Inuyasha's Love Story
by Kagomesama88
Summary: This is the story of how Inuyasha and Kagome get together through lots of drama, happy times,hard times, and all the things that a couple can go through and still make it out alive.
1. Ch l: A Piece of her

Diclaimer! I do not own Inuyasha, or sadly his fuzzy ears...no matter how much I want them I do not own them. sad sigh But I do have the right to play with him so I hope you read and enjoy my story!

This is my first story ever so like, go easy on me and leave lotsa reviews! I'm gonna be up all night 2-night workin on this story (it's currently 11:19) so i'll have more chapters up shortly!

**l: A Piece of her**

As she stalked through the woods, her anger would not go away.

She was a few miles from her "home." Otherwise known as Kaede's hut.

She was so sick, and so tired, of that miserable Inuyasha! He had done it again! He had run away from her- for Kikyou.

But this time wasn't like any of the other times.

No, it was way worse.

Kagome had been walking this way for at least half the day today! And now her body was covered in discusting sweat!

She hated sweating! And especially hated doing it in fuedel japan where she could so seldomly take a bath!

But this was the very least of her worries right now.

She looked up into the sky and she noted with some fear that the sun was setting below the trees. It was getting dark really early- which confused her.

Just how far away from "home" was she?

"I better head back..." She mused worriedly to herself.

Then she realized as her mind was trying to comprehend why it was getting so dark that tonight was the night of the new moon! Inuyasha wouldn't be able to rescue her if something happened out here! Let alone he wouldn't be able to find her!

"Don't be silly Kagome." She whispered angrily to herself, her body beginning to tremble with the heat of anger, and sadness mixed together as it held back many many tears, just as it always did on these occasions, when Inuyasha chose Kikyou over her.

He always would.

She was trying to focus her mind on staying mad at Inuyasha, and give herself something to think about so that she wouldn't become scared.

Kagome glanced around the area of woods she was in, she had walked far and now she couldn't see, and she didn't know where she was.

"I don't know my way back!" Kagome's heart sank.

She began walking in the direction that she thought she came from. She then began to feel panic build up inside herself.

Kagome looked into the sky and recognized the Goshinboku tree towering above the others, it was raised above all the other trees, and into the sky. That tree was huge!

"So---If I just follow that tree---" She said happily to herself. "then i'll find home!" the last sentence escaped her in a excited sigh.

She began trotting back that way, and as she was so focused on the god tree that she slammed her toe against a tree root and she screamed out in pain, and as she began to fall down her foot got stuck under the root and she ended up twisting her foot in a way that it was not supposed to twist!

On her way down she reached her arms out to grab something- and her one hand dug it's nails into the tree, and she ended up making her hand bleed very badly because it had bent back her nails, and the other hand hit the ground hard and with her weight put completely ontop of it, she heard something snap.

Inuyasha was sitting inside of Kaede's hut waiting for the sun to go down. He was very impatient as his sinces slowly began to dull.

That and he was worried about Kagome. He sat there inside of Kaede's safe hut, his leg shaking, as his thoughts fled back to what had happened earlier.

flashback

Kagome had been missing for awhile now and Inuyasha was very worried. There was something very wrong in the atmosphere, everything around him was way to still. It was deathly quiet. Even the air was stale.

"KAGOME!" He yelled out, for the billianth time that morning. She had gone to the river to get water and then she never came back!

"Where the fuck are you?" He growled to himself as he began feeling fear for her boil up inside of himself.

That was when he saw something that made his heart miss a beat in his chest.

He saw one of Kikyou's soul-stealers gliding through the trees.

"Damnit Kagome." He breathed out as he tried to stay calm. He knew that Kagome more than likely had somehow made her way to Kikyou. She always did when Kikyou was around, and this always caused so much...pain for both of them.

He had to go to Kikyou, and rescue Kagome. He knew it in his gut that without a doubt, Kikyou had to do with Kagome's dissapearance.

Inuyasha took off after the soul-stealer, and followed it quickly through the trees. And as he did, Inuyasha was hoping against all hope that Kikyou had not harmed Kagome.

Inuyasha was terrified at what he'd see when he finally got to her.

He rounded a group of old trees and stopped at a clearing in the forest. There standing so tall and still, stood Kikyou with her back to him, just staring at Kagome.

He could not see the look on Kikyou's face but Kagome-

"Inuyasha!" She said exasperatedly. She was on the other side of the clearing and Kikyou stood in between them.

Kagome looked like she wasn't harmed, but the look on her face told him otherwise.

"Kag-" He started to say, and he took a step towards her.

"Inuyasha." Kikyou stated solemnly. She said it in such a tone of finality that it seemed that everything around them stopped, just at the tone in her voice.

No warm breeze. No Kagome. No anything.

It was just him and Kikyou, wherever the hell they were.

"Inuyasha." She said his name again, in a sweet kinda fairy-tale way. The way she used to say it. It made him pine for her, and Kagome, was left out of his mind for now.

Kagome was left in such a state of shock from what Kikyou had said to her that she was afraid to say anything to Inuyasha. She was just about to the point of fearing Inuyasha himself.

Kagome watched in horror as the man she thought she knew, but still loved him despite anything, anyone said or did, stood there not ten feet in front of her, loving someone else who did not love him back.

This was the most pain she had ever experienced, through even all of her demon-fighting days.

No, she couldn't sit idly by. She had to help him!

"The jewel, this shikon-no-tama..." she said smoothly. "It is finished and everything is done. What now do you intend to do with it?"

Kikyou reached into her priestess robes and pulled it apart so her sleeves slid down her shoulders to her elbows and revealed almost all of of her chest.

Inuyasha stood there shocked, his eyes wide.

"K-Kikyou- what are you-" He began slightly panicked. His eyes drifted down to the full shikon-no tama that hung so seductively around her neck and his words just didn't finish coming out.

DUN DUN DUN!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my first chappy!

Oh and it would be really awsome if sum1 out there who was a little more experienced than me at this stuff would volunteer to help write and edit my story?

I'd luv u 4-ever n' always!

hugs n' kisses from Kagome!


	2. Ch ll: Numb

**ll: Numb**

'What's she doing!' Lot's of thoughts were racing through Kagome's head.

She didn't know what in the world was going on, she just knew that Kikyou had stolen her shikon no tama and that she was at the moment trying to seduce Inuyasha with it!

Or do something along those lines of seducing Inuyasha! Oh, Kagome was mad now as she watched Kikyou and Inuyasha.

'Inuyasha! What are you doing!' Kagome's mouth hung wide open! She could not believe what was goin' on right in front of her!

"Hello? Inuyasha-?" She said in a small voice. She watched a moment until she could take it no longer.

"HELLO! I'M STILL HERE! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST WAITED TILL' YOU WERE ALONE FOR THIS!" she screamed at them.

She waited a moment but it seemed neither of them heard her. She didn't know what to do--

'Errr.I shouldn't be here- I shouldn't be seeing this!' Kagome thought panicked. 'But I can't just leave Inuyasha-'

The better voices in her head were telling her te leave but... leave Inuyasha alone with Kikyou?

"That is what he'd want me to do though, right? But what about the shikon-no-tama?" She asked herself. "Oh Kami, what do I do!"

And that was when it hit her, Inuyasha wasn't just ignoring Kagome! Kikyou had him under some sort of spell!

"Come now, Inuyasha. If you can take the jewel then it's yours, and you can make your wish, and then come to hell with me where we will be eternaly together." Kikyou told him, her eyes dancing and her voice, although sweet, had an coldness to it that put even Inuyasha on edge.

He stared at the jewel that was hanging around her neck, and his hand slowly inched towards it as his mind was being made up about what to do with it. He grasped it into his fist and gently tugged on it.

Kikyou's necklace broke and now Inuyasha was holding the jewel securely in his fist. He felt power like no other coursing through his body...He closed his eyes to concentrate on making his wish, and then he heard it.

Someone screaming his name in the distance...he racked his brain trying to recognize the person screaming. Their voice was so familiar, it was so close and yet so far away from him, so close to his memory...

"INU-YASHAAAAA!"

"Huh!" He suddenly came back to reality. Everything hit him full-force. Kagome's familiar sweet scent and all.

"Kagome!" He said shocked. Kikyou's eyes narrowed at him.

Inuyasha turned his head to see that Kagome was all right. She was on her hands and knees on the forest floor, breathing hard and staring up at him. She was trembling.

"Inuyasha...?" Her voice was small and questioning.

He didn't know what to say in this situation. He couldn't find it in himself to say anything to her. All he could do was stare at her apalogetically.

Kikyou looked over at Kagome angrily. Her earlier words to Kagome echoed over in her head again.

"You should leave now Kagome, everything about you does not belong in this place." Kikyou stared seriously at Kagome. "Besides.." she said cockily. "More than ever, you are not needed, being that the jewel is completed and Inuyasha has no more uses for you."

And that was when Inuyasha had shown up.

Kagome's heart painfuly skipped a beat at those words.

She could not take any more of it. Especially when Inuyasha didn't even take up for her. That was when she made up her mind to leave this era, forever.

Kagome stood up to her full height and looked Inuyasha straight in the eyes. They just stared for a moment.

"Inuyasha...I-" Everything was so quiet. "I loved you...but you never noticed."

Kagome turned away from them before he could react, and ran. She ran as hard as she could. She felt her entire body become numb,both physically and mentally, she was going through a state of shock.

Inuyasha, would be eternally with Kikyou.

A woman who hated him.

Did she honestly care what happened to this world now...if she and her family were alive and well in her time, then everything must have worked out in the past, right?

'Besides...Inuyasha will be happier this way, with a woman who knew how to take care of herself instead of always having to be rescued.' She thought bitterly.

'And after all, he loves Kikyou, and true love always makes painful sacrifices, even if it means spending all eternity in hell with someone who hates you and then...well as long as Inuyasha is happy I will...try...to stand by his decision...'

Tears were falling nonstop down Kagome's face. But she kept running. She just wanted to get away, from everything.

Inuyasha hadn't even come after her. So everything really was over... or so she thought it was.


	3. Ch lll: Second Chances

**Chapter lll: Second Chances**

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled after her.

Where inthe fuck did she think she was headed!

He reflexively took off after her when Kikyou yelled out behind him..

"Inuyasha. If you leave me here, this business unfinished, I will fade away to hell alone. Since the jewel is completed, my business here in this world is done...accept for you, Inuyasha. You are the only thing holding me here."

Inuyasha stopped, his back to Kikyou. He could not leave her...he had sworn that he would never leave her alone again. But Kagome...where was she going?

The stress was about to overwhelm him.

"What do you propose I do...Kikyou." He growled out her name angrily. His hands were drawn into fists inside his kimono sleeves.

He was caught in between two people that he truly loved, and his frustration was at it's peak. If Kagome reached the well then she'd be gone forever.

If he left Kikyou, she would also dissapear forever.

It was time to choose, Kikyou or Kagome.

"Let her go back. It is where she belongs, just as we belong together in hell, Inuyasha. She is not even meant to be in this place." Her voice was still sweat, but low...as if she was trying to keep her patients, which was also at it's end.

For some reason Kikyou's words hit a spark inside of Inuyasha, and made him very, very angry. He clenched his fangs together and it was all he could do to not yell at her.

"Kikyou...i'v decided." He then turned to face her. "I'v decided on my wish."

The sun was high in the sky now, and it's heat was beating down on them. It was mid-afternoon.

Kikyou's eyes widened. And she had that old innocent look to her...the look that he loved.

"Kikyou, at one time I loved you. I would have done anything for you but..." He stared at her face. She was so...

"I am just not ready to just give up my life. Fate gave me a second chance...and I came back alive and...I was..loved..."

Kikyou stared at him impassively.

"I have alot of things in my life that I am still looking forward to..." His voice shook ever so slightly. He cared for her so much, and he did not want to do this...for a moment he had second thoughts.

Then he thought about Kagome smiling up at him, with that sweet smile of pure happiness, which was the only thing that kept him going at times during their long, long journey...

So he continued on...

"The Kikyou that I knew and loved died 50 years ago...and she never got a second chance...That Kikyou could have never killed anyone." His voice trailed off. "Not even an evil bandit that tried to kill her." He paused to stare at her.

He couldn't bring himself to talk about it anymore..

"Look at her now."

"Kikyou...i'm sorry that it had to happen like this.." He clenched the jewel in his fist and concentrated.

"Inuyasha, this is what you truly want? For us to be parted, forever?" She said sadly, her emotions were coming through.

"I wish that your real soul will be saved."

The jewel grew warm in his hand and glowed white. At that moment a strong wind blew in from the sky through the trees, and Kikyou and the jewel disentegrated into it and were carried off with the wind into the sky.

"K-Kikyou.." Inuyasha stood there, staring at the spot that Kikyou had just been standing in, with his hand outstretched. And there, in the spot that she had been in just moments before, stood a lone bell-flower.

Inuyasha crouched down beside it and said a prayer, for the first time in his life.

He felt so myserable right now. Had he made the right choice? It felt like his mother had died all over again...but at the same time, there was so much relief that followed when she was gone...Like he had just taken care of a huge problem...but he didn't want it taken care of, but at any rate, he had another huge problem to take care of, he couldn't dwell on this one no matter how much it hurt.

It was just like getting hurt in battle. And now he was having to go save Kagome.

Inuyasha took off. After thinking on it for a little while, he decided that it might be best if he let Kagome walk off all of her frustrations.

It probably wasn't the best idea to confront her right now, even thought that was what he wanted to do so badly.

So he ran back to Kaede's hut, and that was when he started thinking back on what happened.

Inuyasha sat, as patiently as he could be in Kaede's hut. He looked out the window and the sun was now setting. She still hadn't returned, and after all those hours of reminiscing!

"Damn, humans are fucking slow!" He growled out. He looked around, and Kaede wasn't there. She hadn't been there all day, either. It was really strange too.

Inuyasha finally made his mind up to go and get Kagome. He walked out of the hut, and glanced up at the sky.

"Damnit! I shoulda left earlier cuz' the sun's already settin'...and my sences are dulling! Oh man, I just know this isn't a good idea..." He looked out into the woods and hesitated.

If they got caught out there by demons, they were probably gonna be dead. But if Kagome was caught by demons, she was a gonner for sure. He had to go save Kagome.

"Grrrrr. Stupid girl! If this is all because she got herself lost..." He glanced up at the darkening sky and his thoughts changed. "Damn I need to get goin'!"

Inuyasha sprinted off into the woods as fast as he could. He had to find her quickly before he became completely human. If he didn't find her before he transformed, then they were both fuckin' screwed.

She was scared,tired,hungry,bleeding and in pain, and she didn't even know if Inuyasha was alive...and now to top it off, it was pouring down rain...all of this overwhelmed her, but she knew she couldn't cry. Crying in this situation wouldn't do her any good at all. So she held it all in...

One thing that would help her would be to try to fix what was wrong.

One thing was, she had to get back home. But in order to get back home she would have to walk. And to walk...she'd have to fix her foot.

Kagome tried to set her broken hand down on the ground so that she could stand herself up, but she immediately felt so much pain in it. She kicked off her shoe to look at her swollen foot, and boy was it swollen up!

It looked like a giant tomato or something, and it was turning a nasty looking shade of purple..

Kagome peered down at her pulsating foot, which by the minute was swelling up bigger and bigger. And so walking home was more than out of the picture...

Walking back was a hopeless idea, Kagome couldn't move from her spot.

Her foot was so swollen that it stuck under the root. There wasn't any way that Kagome could move it out from under there, and it was hurting so badly!

Kagome looked around at the dark woods...she didn't know what to do now, and she was so terrified.

She was so afraid that she was gonna attract demons with the blood that was slowly sliding down her hand and dripping onto the soil.

She had gotten herself into a very big predicament.

"Inuyasha...please.." She whispered softly as the rain pounded down onto her, she was soaked all the way through her clothes.

Kagome sat there, alone in the woods trembling from the cold and pain and just everything combined.

Ok u guyz! I hope u all luv the story so far! Keep in mind that it's my first one ever, and i'm trying real hard on keeping their personalities the way they should be!

(it's pretty hard) So yah, leave lotsa reviews and tell me if i'm doin' good on it! Should I make the chapters longer, or shorter, or are they fine now?

And am I doing good with their personalities?

You know, I love reading Inuyasha fanfiction, but it's hard to find really good ones. (There are a few out there!) One of the things i'v noticed about Inuyasha fanfiction is that people don't give enough personality, or detail, to the story and it's characters.

That's what i'm trying to work on to keep it interesting, so if my story starts to get boring--let me know! I wanna know what u guyz think so that I can keep it interesting for yall!

Neways, there are gonna be lotsa juicy twists to this story so keep on cumin' back to read sum more! I'm nowhere near done with this story!

Luv yall, and thanks for reading!


	4. Hey, it's you!

**Chapter lV: Hey, it's you!**

"Damnit!"

Inuyasha cursed out loud as he saw the sun finally set below the trees, leaving behind a pinkish-orange color where it had once been.

"KAGOME!" He yelled out, again and again as he hopped from tree to tree trying to catch her, her scent, anything!

He knew for sure that she hadn't gone back to the well yet because he had sniffed in that direction and she hadn't gone that way.

Besides, her stuff was all at Kaede's house and she wouldn't leave without it, right?

Then, he caught a whiff of Kagome's blood. It was unmistakable. Kagome was hurt! Not badly from the smell of things but still, she was hurt and that was probably why she hadn't shown up at the hut!

Inuyasha hopped down to the ground and started sniffing the air for her..

"Hrm..She's gone this way.." And he took off through the woods as fast as he could go, following her scent.

He was very close to finding her now!

Then from out of nowhere, it just began to pour down rain.

"I KNEW IT!" He yelled out. "DAMNIT!"

The rain washed away Kagome's scent that he had been following. And now he was ticked off, and actually, he was scared.

His heart was pounding so hard in his chest, he had to find Kagome!

She was all alone out here in these woods, but what worried him most was the scent of demons all around him, and not just that, now Kagome was hurt and bleeding and if he had smelled her scent earlier, then they would have smelled it too.

And just to put the icing on the cake he would be turning human at any fucking minute now.

He fisted his hands and gritted his teeth.

He hated the rain, it got everywhere, his nose, his ears, plus it was loud and cold.

The only good thing about this rain though was that the demons were probably all hiding from it, and their sences would have been dulled by it too.

He flattened his ears down against his head and growled.

"Kagome..where are you?"

He tried sniffing the air again, but it was useless. The rain-water had already gotten into his nose.

One of his ears twitched.

There was something in those bushes behind him,and it was big, because they were rustling alot!

He flexed his hand and curved it into his usual fighting position.

"Might as well go ahead and kill this one!"

Kagome sat on the other side of the bushes, as tence as she could be. Something big, from the sounds of his footsteps, was walking around on just the other side of them.

She picked up a rock and held it up high, despite the pain in her broken wrist...She had to take the pain, if she didn't want to die that is.

"SANKON-TESSOU!" Inuyasha yelled as he shredded the bushes and, he suddenly saw Kagome's head! Inuyasha stopped using his attack just in time to miss her...but he couldn't make himself stop coming at her...

He saw her eyes get very wide, and she slammed something down against the top of his head. Hard.

He managed to fall away from her, he skidded across the ground, and ended up covered in mudd. His hand autamatically reached up to the spot on top of his head where she had clobbered him.

"Mrrgh!" He groaned. He brought his hand down from his head, and there was blood on it. His eyes were wide as he looked at his hand.

"Oh Inuyasha! I thought you were a demon-! I'm so sorry!" Kagome gasped out.

She stared at him for a moment...he really was alive.

She couldn't believe that he was right here! He should have been dead! She couldn't contain herself for a minute longer. "W-what happened to Kikyou?"

"We- uh- I-" He had been caught off-guard for a second.

Wait, why was she asking about Kikyou! It made him automatically angry, especially since she was hurt, and she was acting like everything was ok!

"Kagome. Kikyou's been..laid to rest...but it's you that i'm worried about! Your hurt!" He snapped at her.

She was shocked. Despite the tone in his voice, he basically had just told her that he was worrying over her more than he was Kikyou... she replayed what she had just heard him say in her head...

"But it's you i'm worried about!"

"Inuyasha!" She gasped. She stared at him with wide eyes for a few seconds. Just stared.

"What!" He finally yelled at her. He was still very irritable from all the things that had been going on today, and now she was just staring at him.

"It's just that...I thought you...left with her.." Kagome's eyes watered up.

"Nyah! No Kagome! I-" He saw tears begin to fall down her cheeks. "Why are you crying? Did you want me to leave-!" He asked in a panick.

"No!" She answered. "I'm so- relieved that your alive!" She choked out.

Inuyasha just stared at her wide-eyed. Didn't people cry when they were sad? Damn women were confusing!


	5. His Dedication

Wow. When I asked for ur guys help and honest opinions, yall really gave them to me!

I'm so happy that yall like my story so far, and thanks for all the encouragement!

Um...so that I will be able to get this story finished---- (unlike most peeple on this site, but I can understand about their busy lives!) I am a night-owl and I'm planning on posting at least one chapter a day. (or night)

I'm setting a time to work on the one chapter every day, and I'm gonna get it done.

Neways---- Yah, I guess that's it.

I hope you still enjoy my story------ lot's of yummy fluffy goodness is up ahead! Maybe not in this chapter, but for sure it's coming up.

Neways, so i'm expecting lotsa happy reviews! (I hope!) :D

**Ch. V: His Dedication**

"Kagome...where does it hurt the most?" Inuyasha asked her gently but seriously.

"Ano..." She opened her mouth to tell him, but at that moment, he began his transformation into a full human being.

Kagome watched as Inuyasha transformed.

His sharp, sould-shattering claws that could so easily rip apart any human flesh retracted into his fingers, and were replaced by more curved human finger-nails. She watched as the bones in his face went from being skinny and long to slightly more round and short...and his eyes, his gorgeous dog-like golden-colored eyes changed to a dark violet and the shape's of his eyes also shifted slightly, as a human they were more long and narrow.

And his ears...they shifted down into his head...

Kagome wondered for a moment, is transforming like that, painful? He always took it like there was nothin' to it...

Now, as a human he was just staring at her in the same serious way that he usually did. Kagome quickly glanced else-where before he could notice that she had been watching him so intently.

A loud clap of thunder boomed from out of nowhere suddenly. Kagome gasped loudly from it, and Inuyasha was startled by it and jumped.

"Shit!" He said aloud, and startled. He glanced over at Kagome and saw that she was shivering from the stinging cold rain. "Baka Inuyasha!" He said to himself as he shrugged out of his fire-rat kimono.

He held it out to Kagome.

"What's it gonna help if it's already wet?" She asked him.

"Only the outside's wet, the inside stays completely dry all the time." He told her.

Kagome reached out to take it, when she winced away in pain.

"Ah! My hands-"

"What's wrong with them?" At just a glance he noticed how swollen her one hand was, and he had seen the blood running down from the other hand earlier.

"Kagome, what exactly did you do to yourself!" He said more to himself.

He stood behind her and helped her slide on his robe, then he tied it for her. Kagome began blushing slightly.

She immediately felt Inuyasha's body heat, and she felt an immediate difference in temperature take place right off the bat.

"Thank you Inuyasha.." she said myserably, but sincere. She did not like it that she couldn't put on his haori herself, but she was thankful that she had it.

"Kagome, how in the hell did you get so caught up like this!" He was looking at her foot which was caught under the root.

"I don't really-" Kagome started.

"How bad does it hurt?" Inuyasha said interupting her.

"Huh?"

"Your foot, how bad does it hurt? Can you move it at all?"

"It hurts really bad...and I can't move it. I'v tried.."

Inuyasha looked at the root trying to figure out how he was gonna get her out of this... It was a big fat root, and it wasn't all old and stuff so that he could just snap it off, but it was more young and powerful and it was huge! He wasn't gonna be able to pull it up out of the ground..

Maaybe, he could dig her foot out?

"Hold on, i'v got an idea."

"Will it hurt?" Kagome asked him, worriedly.

"It shouldn't hurt much." He told her seriously. Human Inuyasha began digging in the mudd and began making a hole for her to be able to pull her foot out of.

Kagome sat there, watching him work so hard to get her foot out...

She shivered. It was freezing out here! Even in Inuyasha's haori! Kagome began coughing...

'I hope that I don't get sick from all this.." she thought.

And suddenly, Inuyasha called to her.

"Kagome, this is the part where it's gonna hurt alittle, are you ready?"

"As ready as ever!"

"Good. I'm gonna pull your leg outa there, got it?" She nodded at him.

Inuyasha took ahold of her leg, and tugged her foot out from the other side of the root. Kagome sucked in air sharply, and then began to cough.

"You okay?" He asked as he squatted beside her body.

"Yes, but...how are we getting back to Kaede's?"

Inuyasha looked out into the woods for a moment of thought.

He couldn't find his way back there like this, and they were far out enough in the woods that he didn't know this area, and he hadn't seen any village's coming up this way either..

Inuyasha stood up, and picked Kagome up into his arms bridal-style and held her tightly against him.

"We're just gonna have to find our own shelter."

"Out here!"

Inuyasha began to jog straight in a randome direction, looking for anything he could use for shelfter for them...The last thing he wanted was for Kagome to get really sick.

Or even himself, he was human tonight, after-all.

Kagome snuggled up closer to his chest and buried her face in it.

Despite the rain and the cold that they were fighting tonight, and all of the pain that she must have been in, as he looked down at her face, he saw that she looked so peaceful, and there was even a hint of a smile that graced her lips.


	6. Making Fire

**Ch.Vl: Making Fire**

And then there it was, the shelter that he had been searching for.

It was a large cave, with green moss covering all sides of it. Inuyasha ran inside, still cradling Kagome, and tried to take a look around at what was inside, but it was pitch black.

Oh how much he hated being a human! His hearing would have come in perfectly in this situation had he been a demon, and he could have picked up if there were a demon in the cave or not.

Inuyasha set Kagome down against one of the hard cold walls of the cave. As he set her down, his arms remained around her for a minute longer than they needed to be. Kagome squirmed around in his arms and began to wake up.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked with her soft brown eyes gazing sleepily up at him.

Her body was so soft and cold...not dead cold like Kikyou's had been but...it was unaturaly cold.

He had to force himself to let go of her.

Inuyasha looked down into her eyes apologetically. He wished he could do something more for her... she had to be seriously uncomftorable.

Kagome began coughing again, and she didn't stop for awhile.

"Damnit Kagome! Don't you get sick on me!" He told her in a gruff voice, but Kagome caught the worry in it.

"I'm fine.." She replied. She didn't make eye-contact with him, but instead her eyes stared at the rain outside, and then she closed her eyes, with her eyebrows tightly drawn down, showing him that she was in pain.

Kagome was not feeling very much like herself at this moment. Her mind and her body felt extremely heavy..like she could pass out at anytime...and she kept drifting in and out of sleep... the thing that kept her up the most was the consistantly throbbing pain in her foot..and the stinging cold.

"Damn...I can't see anything in here..." Came Inuyasha's distant voice echoing into her head. She opened her eyes and saw him standing by the entrance of the cave. His eyes were looking into the cave, trying to see through the dark...and then they shifted to outside, and they settled on watching the rain. She watched as he began to go deep into thought.

The wind shifted, and rain began to blow inside the cave. Little drops of it landed in his hair, causing it to sparkle.

His bangs were plastered down to his forhead, and to Kagome he looked so breathtakingly handsome...

He had to fix Kagome's foot tonight, it was in bad shape and the longer they waited, the worse condition it would be in. He was dreading it, but it had to be done.

But he couldn't do a thing about it in the dark though, and so he would have to somehow make a fire...and Kagome, and himself, were freezing and needed one anyways.

Though Inuyasha himself would never admit that he was cold out loud... just because he hated admiting to weaknesses of any kind.

"Kagome?" There was no responce. He knew that she was awake back there. "Kagome?" He said alittle louder and forceful.

"Huh!" She squeeked. She had been so deep in her own thoughts that he had startled her.

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile at that one.

"I'll be back in a few, Kagome."

He started to head out and Kagome's voice stopped. him.

"Where are you going?" She tiredly asked him.

"I'm gonna go get us some firewood." Inuyasha looked back at her and cockily added. "Try not to attract any demons for us, all right?"

Kagome managed to laugh lightly. "Okay Inuyasha.." She said sleepily.

He ran out into the stinging cold rain once again. He didn't know how the hell he was going to start a fire but he was going to do it, no matter how wet the wood was.

Kagome needed it, and he was gonna do it for her.

He began picking up little twigs first, so that he could start it. Then he made several trips into the woods and back to the cave, grabbing as much wood as he could get.

And finaly, he was finished. Now all he needed to do was to light this fire up.

Looking at Kagome, she was fast asleep on the cave floor. He hated seeing her like that, it looked uncomftorable even to him.

Inuyasha gathered all the little twigs into a pile first and began rubbing two together to try and make fire. After a few minutes, it just was not working.

And then, a spark, and accompanying it was a fire. He smirked at his accomplishment.

Then he remembered the thing that had to be taken care of. Kagome's foot.

Inuyasha walked over to the sleeping Kagome that was stretched out across the floor. He gently whispered her name to her.

"Kagome?" When her eyebrows only furrowed together more in agitation, he put his hand on her back and lightly shook her.

"Mmmrh." She whined at him.

Her eyes slowly opened, blinked once, twice, and now she was staring at him. "What is it Inuyasha?" She asked him gently in her sleepy voice.

"I got a fire started for us, I thought maybe you'd wanna move closer to it to get warm." He told her unsurely, he hated being put on the spot, and he had a guilty conscience for what he was going to have to do.

"Ok..." She told him sleepily at first, not really knowing fully what was going on in her half-awake state. Inuyasha put her arm around his shoulder and lifted her up off the ground. He walked her over to the fire military-style.

"Wow you got a fire started? How'd you do that?" She asked him sweetly as he helped her over. She was impressed!

"Heh. It was nothin' Kagome." He told her as he set her down in front of the fire. "How's your foot? Does it still hurt?"

"mm." Kagome whined. "It does still hurt alot, just as much as I first did it. The pain hasn't subsided hardly at all." She looked at him woriedly.

"That's gonna have to be taken care of, you know."

"I know.." She whined. Kagome looked away from him and into the fire. He hated seeing her like that, looking so scared and vulnurable.

He started thinking back to how this had happened in the first place, and realized that if she had only waited on him, that they would probably be at this moment, sitting inside of Kaede's cozy little hut, nice and safe, and in no pain.

"What were you thinking running away by yourself, and unarmed none the less!" He scolded her. She narrowed her brown eyes at him.

"What did you want me to do-- stand there and watch while you and Kikyou-" She clamped her mouth shut and ground her teeth together so that she wouldn't continue.

She didn't want to make things worse than they were already, but it was to late.

Inuyasha narrowed his violet eyes at her.

"If you would have stayed, you would have seen for yourself that we didn't do anything." He said extremely agitated, borederline yelling.

"How was I supposed to know you wouldn't!" Her voice shook.

"Because you were there!" He snapped at her. "Do you actually think that i'd sink so low as to do something like that to you!"

Kagome didn't know what to say. The last time he had done anything intimate with Kikyou was that one kiss along time ago...and she had had some sort of spell on her that would make him not see her there at that time.

At least, that was the last intimate moment that she knew of.

"Inuyasha!" She snapped back and went in for the final blow. "She was taking off her shirt!" She yelled back, finally losing it.


	7. The final argument!

**Ch. 7: Final Argument!**

Kagome was right. Though he knew he would never do anything in front of her with Kikyou, how was Kagome supposed to know that when Kikyou was standing there sliding off her shirt.

It had been a complete shocker to Inuyasha himself as well.

"I still wouldn't have done anything in front of you!" He scolded her. "You should know that." He gently stated.

Kagome sat there staring into the fire, refusing to meet his gaze, because she really had no right to be ticked about Inuyasha and Kikyou.

Kagome and Inuyasha, afterall, were not in any kind of certain relationship.

But still, she was pretty miffed, and she was determined to keep on arguing with him.

and she still couldn't believe that he told her she 'should have known' that they weren't going to do anything!

"And tell me- Inuyasha." She countered. "How exactly should I ' have known?' She questioned him icily.

Inuyasha glared at her, just as icily as her voice had been. So they were back to just about where the argument had started from.

"Did you think that I wanted to see you get dragged down into hell? And I certainly didn't think that you would want me there invading your's and Kikyou's private moment!" She hissed.

Now she locked her eyes with Inuyasha's, trying to read his emotions.

"Well- I wouldn't have had any qualms about you running off by yourself if you didn't get hurt everytime you did it!"

Kagome gasped. "Inuyasha how could you say that!" He had gone too far.

In this area was where Kagome's emotions were very delicate.

This was because she felt like a weakling.

And she hated it.She hated having to depend on everyone constantly rescuing her from this danger, and that demon.

This was where everyone distinguished her from Kikyou.

Kikyou had been fiercely independant and self-reliable in any situation, and was perfect with her miko abbilites, whereas Kagome hadn't even learned to control her power yet, and was always having to be rescued by someone.

She hated for everyone to compare them in this way...especially Inuyasha. He always nagged her about having to rescue her constantly.

And she had come to believe that it was honestly a nuisance to him.

Everytime he pulled out this card, it cut her deep.

"Well it's the truth Kagome." He hpm'd and turned away.

Then he began to hear her sniffle. He looked back at her and saw that tears were falling down her face.

"Ka-Kagome!" He said shocked.

With all the stresses of the day combined with the pain in her ankle, she had just been barely able to hold back the increasing stress that she had kept bottled up inside her, but when Inuyasha had said that to her, all her emotions suddenly flooded together and she couldn't hold them in anymore.

Inuyasha jumped up and as quickly as he could he came to her side.

"Kagome! Why are you doing this!" He asked panicked as he crouched by her side. "Don't cry! Come on Kagome! What's wrong? I'm sorry I snapped at you!"

"It hurts...and I.. cough wanna... sob go home and see mama cough cough and...sob it hurts...cough I thought you were..sob dead..!" cough

"Kagome! It's gonna be ok...i'm right here-" He said loudly so that she could here him over her crying and coughing.

"Inuyasha...I was so scared of losing you!" And she ended up crying more.

Inuyasha could not stand it. His body was shaking unwillingly because of her crying. Her crying always made his blood rush and his heart pound painfuly against his chest.

He didn't know what to do, so he instinctively reacted to her and reached out and wrapped his arms around Kagome's soft little body.

Kagome was shocked and caught off-guard, her body tenced up in his arms. And then, as if for the first time she realized that he had not gone with Kikyou to hell, he had chosen to live, to stay with Kagome.

She immediately snuggled closer to him. It didn't matter to her if he was still soaking wet from the rain, she just wanted to feel that he was really there.

He held her tightly to him, his arms were enclosed all the way around her small body. She kept crying into his haori. Inuyasha reached up and unsurely stroked her hair with one of his hands.

"Kagome...it's ok! I'm here! It's ok!" He told her soothingly. After a few minutes she finaly began to calm down.

"I'm sorry.." She said to him, looking down. She began to push away from his embrace. "I shouldn't have cried like th-"

"Don't say that Kagome!" He held her arms tightly and made sure that she didn't pull out all the way.

"But I-" she started, trying to squirm out of his grip.

"It's okay to cry if your feeling upset, Kagome." He pulled her back against him, and held her tightly so she couldn't move away.

"Inuyasha...what are you doing?" She asked as she looked up into his face.

"Keh. I'm keepin' you warm. Your body is still cold." Kagome relaxed a little. She was still feeling slightly awkward, sitting in Inuyasha's lap like that.

"Are you okay now?" He asked her gently. He saw the uncomftorable look on Kagome's face. "I'm only tryin' to keep you from getting cold and sick Kagome. So just relax." He added.

"Yes, i'm okay.." She replied.

"Good. So now we can work on your foot, ne?"

Oh Kami! Kagome thought. She didn't want to have to do this. Just why did she have to be so clumsy?

"If we must.." She told him, even though it was obvious that putting the bone back into place was a must.

Inuyasha looked down at her foot. This was obviously more than a sprain. Kagome was an extremely tough human, she must have been in so much pain and she hardly complained this whole time! Her foot was pointed at an odd angle. And the entire foot was swollen up to her ankle, and around her ankle were dark purple and dark green bruises.

"Kagome, this is dethiantly broken. I'm going to have to snap the bone back into the right place. Are you ready?"

Inuyasha slowly turned to look her in the face.

"Yes...I can do this." She tried to force a smile to her lips, but it turned out looking like a nervous grimace. "Just be quick, would ya?" She asked.

OK GUYZ!

Well, I hope all of u had an awsome thanksgiving! ( I did! ) and I also hope that you enjoyed this chapter.

On the next chapter, well I don't wanna spoil it but--- Inuyasha tells Kagome about something very shocking that i'm sure you guyz won't enjoy----but it will be an awsome littletwist none the less! (hehe, i'm evil )

Neways...

I wanna see lots n lots of happy reviews from u guyz, otherwise I won't be very motivated to put up the next chapter that quickly. :P Seriously, (when I get lotsa reviews on a chapter it makes me want to get the next one out reaaly fast!)

Well neways...that's it 4 now.


	8. Breaking into place

**Ch. 8: Breaking into place**

Inuyasha had his back to Kagome so that she couldn't see what he was doing to her foot. He hoped that if she couldn't see it, it might ease her pain just a little bit.

Kagome felt pain like no other in her foot, and felt something in it snap as Inuyasha pushed the bone back into place. There was so much pain.. Kagome sucked in sharply, and held her breath. It was immense.

She wanted her yellow bag that was at Kaede's hut so much! It had some pain killers in it, and she needed them badly!

Kagome tried to focus on Inuyasha so that she could take her mind away from thinking about the anguish that her body was going through.

'He's so sweet. Helping me like this so that it doesn't get worse.. it'll only get worse if I stop him...'

"I guess a little pain now is better than a lifetime of it, ne Inuyasha?" She gasped out-loud right after she said that. "Inuyasha!" She breathed.

There was even more pain. Kagome clamped her teeth down and ground them together, trying to take it.

She couldn't tell what the hell Inuyasha was doing to her foot now! She felt heat all inside of it, and it shot up her leg, and she cried out in anguish.

"Kagome i'v almost got it, it's almost done." He told her, trying to alleviate some of the pain and stress from her.

(Inuyasha's Point of View)

There was more than just one bone broken, from what he could tell. He placed his hands on her swollen foot, and twisted it, he heard her bone crunch back together, and the worst part was done. He could feel her tenceness radiating off of her, she was astence as a rock, and wasn't moving at all. He absolutely hated hurting her like this. The only thing he could do for her would be to get the job done as quickly as possible.

Inuyasha heard Kagome begin to talk about how alittle pain now was better than having an entire lifetime of it.

He ignored her and concentrated on her big toe which was also badly crooked. That toe came back into place with a sickening snap.

He rubbed his hands over her foot, and prodded it in places to make sure that there were no more disaranged bones.

"Kagome i'v almost got it, it's almost done." He told her in hopes that maybe she would relax alittle knowing that it was almost finished.

And it looked and felt like all of her bones were again in place, how she had managed to mess her foot up that bad was beyond him.

(Back to normal)

Inuyasha got up and walked back to Kagome's side and sat down beside it. He didn't know what to say to her because he knew she was in immence pain.

"Thank you, Inuyasha." She breathed out. She was visibly trembling, and her eyes were glazed with unshed tears. Inuyasha wrapped one muscular arm around her and pulled her to him.

Kagome laid her head down on his shoulder and she let it wrest there. She was exhausted, and she was being both physicaly and mentaly tormented.

Inuyasha with his hand began to gently rub it up and down her arm, hoping it to be a relaxing gesture. He had learned this soothing technique from his mom many years ago.

Kagome whimpered slightly from the pain in her foot, and tensed up. Inuyasha immediately thought that he had somehow hurt her while he was rubbing her arm and he stopped doing it.

When he stopped, the horrible pain in her arms and leg came back.

"Inuyasha.." Kagome whined. "Don't stop..."

It really was helping to take her mind off of the pain. Inuyasha gently rubbing his hands up and down her tence arms felt good to her, and it brought the tension from them and she was able to relax alittle.

"Kagome, you know i'm going to have to take care of your wrist, too."

"I know." She said agitated that he reminded her of it.

"We should do it now.."

"Can't it be tomarrow morning or something? Inuyasha, i'm really worn out." She whined to him.

He gave in extremely easily Mainly because he was still stressed out about making her go through all of that pain. His nerves were sill shot from all of that.

"You should get some wrest, Kagome."

"Kay." She told him sweetly. Kagome closed her eyes for sleep but her body was still in anguish. Inuyasha kept rubbing her arms gently, and didn't stop...but the pain was gradually becoming amune to that.

After a few minutes of trying to go to sleep, she figured that it wasn't gonna happen tonight.

"Why arn't you asleep yet?" His voice was deep and filled with sleepiness.

"I..." She didn't want to worry him by telling him that she was in pain. "I just have alot on my mind."

Human Inuyasha grunted.

"Inuyasha...?"

"What."

"Does it hurt when you transform into a human?" She asked inocently.

Inuyasha pulled his eyebrows down in annoyance as he thought about whether to admit that it or not.

"It's painful but i'v been dealing with it for years and now my body's just kinda grown used to the change."

Kagome slid down from Inuyasha's shoulder and moved her head to his chest. There she could hear his heartbeat...

"Why didn't you become a demon when you had the shikon-no-tama?"

Inuyasha was silent for a little while...Kagome watched the fire...it was very small now and almost had burnt itself up. It was fine though, they had dried off by now. The only noise that Kagome could hear was the sound of Inuyasha's heartbeat and the rain outside.

She was so content for that moment, and then...

"I thought about doing that but then..."

Kagome laid still against his chest, her brown eyes gazing straight ahead into the dying fire. She waited patiently for him to continue.

"If I had done that then I couldn't see you again.."

"What do you mean?" She asked gently.

"If I had become a full youkai...then Kikyou's soul would not have been put to wrest..and she probably would have drug me down into hell.."

"Isn't that what you'v wanted?" Kagome asked in a quiet voice. "To go to hell with her?"

"No! Well, yes and no.."

"Ok, so now i'm confused.."

"Kagome...i'm going to try to straighten this out for you tonight and so we can both move on from this. he said sadly. "I'll tell you everything."

"Inuyasha! You don't need to-" He began to talk over her.

"I really and truly loved Kikyou back then, and I still do. We had made plans for me to turn into a complete human and then we would get married, and have...children...

On the night before we were going to meet to change me into a human forever, we slept together. Neither of us had any idea whatsoever that anything would go wrong..." Inuyasha's bangs covered his eyes. "So we didn't see anything really wrong with it."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome stared up at him sadly. "I-"

"It wasn't until the second time Kikyou and I had talked after she was resurected that I found out that she had been with child when she died."

Kagome had no idea of what to say to him. She was so shocked. Inuyasha had conceived a baby with Kikyou?

"Inuyasha..."

"I swore that I would protect her from anything...that she would never be alone again...but then Kagome, you stepped into my life and I couldn't ignore you. Even though I tried to stop it, I developed strong feelings for you, too. And over time I realized that I had people who really cared for me, and I felt like I wanted to live, not die. I never lost my feelings for Kikyou, ever. But this new resurected Kikyou, is not her, I finaly realized. It's nowhere near what she was. And so I had a revelation...that the best thing I could do for Kikyou would be to free her real soul...and in whishing that I purified the jewel."

She had been listening to him, but was at a loss for words to say. "I'm so sorry that it had to happen like that..." Kagome looked down at the ground, trying to avoid his gaze.

"No, Kagome. Don't be sorry..." He grabbed her chin with his thumb and forefinger and made her look up into his eyes. "How many times have you been possesed to kill me, Kagome?" He asked her seriously.

"A few..." She started.

"And we always came through,didn't we? We always ended up back together, ne?"

"Yes.."

"It took only one time to pit me and Kikyou completely against eachother. I realize, that what we had wasn't true love. Because true love is all about trust...Kagome...I trust you way more than I ever trusted her I just had never met another girl before her, even though I don't deny that I had, and still have very deep feelings for her. I stayed alive for you."

He stared her seriously in the eyes, searching her face for her feelings.

"Inuyasha...you did this for youself, and not just because of me? I mean, you made this choice because you wanted it, not because you felt badly?"

"Kagome, I did it because I couldn't stand to never see your face again. To never again hear your voice.. I- I realized that you are the one that I want to protect." He then let go of her chin and she continued to stare at him.

"Inuyasha...I don't know what..."

"Just shh, Kagome. You need to wrest up, your probably exhausted from today, aren't ya?"

"Yes...just a little."

"Are you still in pain?"

"Not as much as before...again, thank you for doing that for me."

"Keh. Tomarrow is gonna be your wrist, think you can handle it?"

"After you did my ankle, I think I could handle anything." She countered as she pointed a sleepy finger at him. Inuyasha hugged her tightly, and then wrested his chin on top of her head.

"Inuyasha?" She said, her voice was raspy with sleep.

"Go to sleep Kagome. We'll talk tomarrow."

Kagome squirmed around alittle, and then got to a comftorable spot on his chest, and closed her eyes.

He listened to Kagome's breathing even out as she drifted off into sleep.

He smiled to himself...yes, he would definitely enjoy protecting this girl for the wrest of their lives...he lightly kissed the top of her head and he stayed up, keeping vigilence over his Kagome.

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Ok! So that wuz an uber-long chappy! I hope you enjoyed it! Don't bash me too hard for Inuyasha and Kikyou having almost had a baby! I just thought it wud add a cool little twist n' sum nice drama...

Neways thanks so much 4 the reviews!


	9. Deeper in

**Ch. 9: Deeper In**

Inuyasha couldn't see anything at all. Everything was pitch-black, even the cave. He waved one of his hands in front of his face just to prove that he could see nothing. Inuyasha scrunched up his face.

This put him ill-at-ease because anything could be hiding in this dark cave. He subconsciously tightened his grip on Kagome at the thought that danger could be near.

Her heard her murmer in her sleep. Inuyasha brought his face closer to hers, so that he could catch what she said.

"Kagome?"

She was silent, and he could feel her breath on his face. It was warm and it kinda tickled, the way it lightly brushed his skin. He let his face linger close to hers for a little bit, and then he reluctantly made himself pull away.

Kagome's head wrested on his chest, and Inuyasha had one of his arms brought around her waist, holding her gently to him, and his other arm was mirrored around her the same way.

Her long soft hair fell down her back to where just the tips of his fingers could touch it.

Inuyasha began to fiddle with the ends of the hair with his fingers. He liked the feel of it and he soon grew more curious and ran his hand through her hair, accidentally tangling her delicate hair together.

Inuyasha's curiousity and infatuation with her was still not satisfied, and he testingly ran his hand through the little knots, and he noted that they were easily pulled apart again. He kept running his hand through her hair until her hair was completely smoothed out again, and he was sure that there were no more knots.

He silently vowed to himself that Kagome would never know what he had done while she had slept next to him on this night. No one would ever know.

He held her close, and though it was pitch black, he had nothing but pure innocent love for her in his eyes, as he held her close to himself adoringly.

He was growing too soft. Only Kagome could do this to him. Damn his stupid human emotions!

"I knew I should have turned demon while I had the chance." He grumbled under his breath with a scowl. But deep deep down, he knew he wanted this girl just as badly as he wanted to become demon. He was in very deep denial that he didn't want her. He was almost sure that she wouldn't choose to stay with him and that she would return back to her home forever because he had run to Kikyou instead of her so many times before, but that went both ways too! But...why should she stay with him after he torchured her all those times that he did run to Kikyou..

He didn't want to center his life on Kagome yet. He wasn't ready.

He had to keep turning demon as an alternative if Kagome did leave him.

This whole thing was so confusing...he was almost positive that Kagome loved him, on another even higher note.

He had a flashback of the time when Kaguya had backfired Kagome's arrow, and it was going to purify him but Kagome ran and got in the way of the arrow and it pierced through her back. Then she told him she was happy he lived, that it was all right that way.

He ground his teeth together.

It was far far from all right.

And there were many other times too...that she had come to close to death because of him.

"You stupid girl..." He said gently into her ear. "you don't need to do those things for me...if anything ever happened to you i'd..." He trailed off, deep in his own thoughts.

The rain had steadily began to pour down harder, the wind was picking up and it blew harshly cold rain in. Kagome began to stirr around in his arms.

He picked her up and reluctantly walked even further into the cave, which he had not wanted to do, because there was no telling what was back there.

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Kagome slowly began to wake up. She thought she heard Inuyasha talking to her though his voice was really fuzzy, but as she began waking up more she realized that it had probably been a dream.

The wind was howling really loudly outside! She was about to ask Inuyasha if he was awake when he picked her up and started walking further into the cave. So that answered her question.

It was pretty creepy because she could not see a thing. At all. She only could feel Inuyasha holding her. She could feel his chest rise up and down as he breathed in and out. At least she was pretty certain that it was Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha?" She asked.

"Hm. I'm here Kagome." He said gruffly.

She listened to his feet padding along the cave floor. It was about the only noise in the cave. She leaned into his chest more because she was scared. His chest was so sturdy and warm...

He suddenly stopped and she felt him tence up.

"Inuyasha, what is it?" She asked worried. He was quiet for a while. "Inu-"

"I'm pretty sure I hear running water...or something.."

Kagome straigned her ears to hear it...and then, there it was. The sound of rushing water.

"Inuyasha, I hear it too! Let's go check it out!"

"Hrrm." He grumbled unsurely.

He cautiously walked deeper into the blackness of the cave, using his hands to feel his way along the rough cold cave wall, occasionaly his foot would connect painfuly with a small rock or something, but he held in his pain. It wouldn't kill him, and he didn't want to worry Kagome who was securly grasped in his arms.

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In Inuyasha's mind he was slightly worried. What if there happened to be demons down here where this water was? Why did they want to find this water in the first place, there was plenty outside!

Something subconsciously was willing them to go find the water...pulling them towards it.

It began to grow warm the further they traveled into the cave. And then there was a cloud of steamy mist...

"What is this?" Kagome asked unsurely. "It looks like..." They came around a corner in the cave and the place was slightly illuminated, Inuyasha could see Kagome in his arms.

"A hot spring!" They said in unison.

Inuyasha sat Kagome down next to it and he dipped his fingers into the warm water. It felt really good, he wouldn't admit it out loud, but it did.

"It feels so great!" Kagome cooed as she dipped her aching feet into the water. "Aaaah!" Inuyasha smiled inwardly at her, but kept his face hard. "Come on Inuyasha, just dip your feet in. It feels very good." She said smiling. Kagome reached her not broken hand in and splashed alittle water onto him.

"Hey!" He snapped harshly but ammused from behind his sleeve. He had raised it to shield himself just a second too late and the water had splashed onto his chest.

"If you don't dip your feet in, i'll have to do that again." She told him defiantly while pointing a finger at him.

"Yah? Let's just see you try it." He said cockily, immitating the way he talked to his enemies.

"It's your funeral!" She said seriously, but a smile was evident on her face.

Kagome cupped her hands under the water and she gently, because her hand was hurt, pushed a small wave of it at him. Inuyasha predicted her move, jumped up to his feet, and did a flip out of the way of Kagome's imminent water attack.

That got an impressed laugh out of her. "Oh yah! You silly little human, you can't dodge my next one!" She hissed playfuly. Inuyasha was out of her reach, and her foot was hurt besides he was having fun, so he walked back to her cockily.

"Oh? I don't think you can do a thing to me! Keh!"

"We'll see about that!" She said laughing and shoved more water onto him. Inuyasha fell over dramatically.

"Ah! You got me! But i'm not goin' down without bringing you with me!" Kagome stopped playing, and she looked at him shocked.

"W-What are you gonna do!" She said unsurely, her eyes wide. Inuyasha kicked his foot into the water over and over.

"Ah! Inuyasha!" She said laughing with her hands out, trying to shield her from the water. "S-stop! I'm getting soaked!" He didn't stop until she was drenched from head to foot. He didn't like loosing to anyone, over anything and he made sure he won this.

'Thank goodness I still have on Inuyasha's fire-rat robe, otherwise my white school shirt wood have soaked through!' She thought with a half-smile, eyes wide. Inuyasha noticed as a slight blush appeared on her face.

"What is it, Kagome?" He asked light-hearted and confused.

"Oh, nothing!" She waved her hands dissmisingly at him. He decided not to pry it out of her, because he didn't want to start a fight and ruin the happy atmosphere.

They sat there, quietly soaking their feet in the warm underground hot spring. Inuyasha then noticed Kagome out of the corner of his eye was ringing her hair out. He sat there and watched as she then began to run her hands through it, just as he had done.

"I wish I had my brush...it's a mess.." She said sadly.

Inuyasha bit on his lip. He could go over there and help her brush it out, but his bigger ego was screaming at him not to. He was a demon, and demon's did not do things like brush out their girl-friends, er:friends: hair for them.

So he stared straight ahead and thought of other things.

Like how cute Kagome looked while she slept.

WAIT A MINUTE!

He narrowed his eyes in frustration. He couldn't get this girl out of his head! She was literaly driving him insane!

"Hey Inuyasha?"

He jumped high into the air. "Hm!" He squeeked surprised, his heart stopping in his chest when she said his name. Why did she have him so on edge? It's not like she could read his thoughts! Kagome stared at him, shocked.

"What!" He yelled at her, miffed that she surprised him like that. And angrier that he couldn't rid his thoughts of Kagome.

She leaned away from him, hurt.

"What are you yelling at me for!" She said exasparated, not wanting to argue but her anger and pain was threatening to spill over at being yelled at.

"Hmph." He looked away from her and shut his eyes. He tried to stay angry, but he couldn't do it. He felt immence guilt wash over him. But he sat there defiantly and took it. His ego was to large to say that he was sorry. Even though it wasn't her fault that his thoughts were all on her. Well, not completely anyways.

Kagome sat there fuming at him. She couldn't believe he snapped at her! What had she done this time! Nothing! Or nothing that she could recall doing. And here she thought everything was going well. 'I guess some things just never will change.' she thought to herself myserably.

She sat there staring into the flowing hot spring...it was the only thing that was moving in this place.

After a while, the silence began to turn into torchure as the memory of them splashing eachother in the water and laughing began to haunt the both of them.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome said gently, being able to take no more of the silence. "I'm sorry that I got mad...I- shouldn't have." She said, trying to sound sincere but she really didn't know what she was apologizing for. But some-one had to do it, and the quietness was driving her crazy!

Inuyasha's stress level rose. She shouldn't be apologizing to him for anything! He turned around and faced her. His violet eyes looked straight into her brown ones.

"Why are you apologizing to me?" He said more agitated at her.

"I- I- surprised you.." She said unsurely, but trying to sound confident.

"As if that's something you should be apologizing for." He grunted. She glared at him.

"Ok. So maybe it wasn't a real apology. I was trying to make peace with you." She kept holding his gaze angrily.

His face softened alittle bit and he felt guilty but this was confusing for the both of them. He knew it was his fault but he just couldn't admit it out loud. His face scrunched up in agitation as he was again feeling on the spot.

kagome looked away from Inuyasha and sighed feeling defeated...'Inuyasha is such a confusing person..' She thought to herself.

Tt was quiet again and the pressure just kept on building up inside of Inuyasha. His feelings were so mixed up and he wanted to say something, he wanted so badly to say that he was wrong, and apologize--

''Ok. I'm sorry.'' he muttered. He couldn't take the hurt look on kagome's face anymore.

Her soft, relieved eyes turned to look at him but her face remained forward,her lips curved into a smile,almost a smirk. It sounded much like the first time he had apologized to her.

''Well arn't ya gonna say anything!'' he scolded angrily. ''Do you forgive me or are ya just gonna leave me the hell alone?''

''Yes,yes I forgive you.'' She waved him off with her unbroken hand of course. 'Inuyasha...thank you.'

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Ok so, I didn't get that many reviews for my last chapters! What's up with that? I hope i'm not getting boring! I really shouldn't even be updating because I got only 3 reviews. :frowning face:

Well neways, I worked extra hard on this chapter and made it extra long. So I :really: hope yall liked it and please review! If u guyz don't let me know it's good with reviews---- i'm gonna seriously quit on this:(

No---I probably won't quit but still...it makes me happy when I get reviews, so yall better review for me or else!


	10. Don't Go!

**Ch.10**

Kagome turned and stared at Inuyasha with curiously sad brown eyes. Inuyasha stared back at her regretfuly, but yet curiously as he wondered what she was going to say.

"Neh...What are we going to do about the well?" She asked softly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked tenderly. He leaned in alittle closer to her.

"Well...if the shikon no tama is gone..." She paused and stared Inuyasha straight in the eyes, sadly, hers burning into his forcing him to keep her gaze because it was time to have a really serious talk. Inuyasha returned her gaze. "When I go back home how will I return here again?" For there wasn't a way for her to return back if she left, because she had lost her link to the fuedel times.

Inuyasha's heart skipped a beat.

"Kagome" He stated as if he had seen her get hurt badly by a demon and he could not get to her, a light echo repeated his words softly. His eyes shimmered with emotion. Then there was a long lurid silence that painfuly followed. He didn't know what he should say to her. So many things were rushing through his mind, and he was scared that she would leave him forever.

"Inuyasha?" Came her soft voice which bounced off the walls of the cave and caused another light echo. "I-" She started unsurely. She looked down into the water again as Inuyasha only kept staring at her...not knowing what to do, but he absolutely had to get her to stay here, at any price.

As Inuyasha stared at her, he saw the most amazing person he had ever known... he could not even begin to imagine what life without Kagome would be like...he did not even want to know.

Inuyasha absolutely needed her. She was his whole world... the person that had made him want to live, the person of his infatuation, his very dearest friend, the one and only individual who could control him even when he was a demon and actually make him smile, the being who he would lay down his life in an instant for, without question, the one who he had the most absolute, sheer unadulterated love for.

But did she love him enough to stay in the feudel era? He was so afraid to find out...feelings were overwhelming him. She just couldn't leave him like this!

Inuyasha finally got a grip over his emotions, or as much as he could get. He was not going to let her leave him! Unless, she truly wanted to...

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"Kagome.." He said strongly, startling her. She was afraid to look into his face, because for some reason, he might tell her to leave forever...She slowly looked up into his eyes. His strongly devoted violet eyes met her unsure brown ones, his were so intencely focused on her, and filled with so many unplacable emotions...his gaze made her slightly nervous and a light blush tinted her cheeks.

"I-Inuyasha?" She said again, unsure. "If I leave, how will I come back?" She questioned him again.

Inuyasha stood up from where he was sitting and he began to walk away from her. She stared at him incertain, and wondered to herself where he was going and what he was doing. He stopped a few feet away, standing there with his back to her, and he put his hand frustratedly on top of his head.

He then turned around, and walked back to her determined. He stopped again, straight in front of her and crouched down so that they were at eye to eye level.

His body screamed :Confident: But his eyes shimmered with uncertainty and worry. She trustingly looked into his eyes, and then managed to smile at him.

She knew that he was probably upset over her going to leave because she was one of his very best friends, and now that the jewel was gone it was like Kikyou had said, he had no uses for her anymore...she didn't belong in this world anyways.

"Inuyasha..now your free to go out and do what you want...where do you think your gonna go after this?" She managed to say sweetly.

"Kagome. What the hell are you thinking!" He told her snippily as he brought his face closer, boring into her.

"I-uh" She leaned slightly back and away from his close face. It was so intence. At this point she was real confused. "Inuyasha, what do you mean?"

"I'm goin' wherever you go!" Kagome's eyes began to water up... "You can't come back home with me." She told him reasonably. "You don't know anything about my world and you'v never even been to school...not to mension your ears would be a hard one to---"

"Damnit Kagome!" Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders hard, but not hard enough to hurt her. "Why are you trying so hard to get away from me! You are not leavin'!"

"But Inuyasha!" He was making it so hard for her...She already almost had her mind made up that she would stay here, but then what reason was there if Inuyasha only cared for her as a very close friend...and then what about her family, and school? She couldn't just abandon them! The tears her eyes had began to fill up with threatened to spill over.

"Don't you understand, Kagome!" He stared hard into her face. He saw in her eyes the tears that were about to fall... Inuyasha reached up with his human hand and gently rubbed away the tears before they could spill down her cheeks.

"Inuyasha.." Her voice was wavy as she held back crying. "I don't have a reason to stay here any longer and-"

Inuyasha leaned in before she could react to him at all and pressed his lips firmly to hers. They stayed like that for awhile, and when Kagome didn't make a move to pull away from him he pulled her body to his and wrapped his arms possesively around her small form and hugged her tightly to himeslf, while keeping their lips sealed together.

Kagome automaticaly pressed her hands gently against his chest, because they were still hurt from earlier that day, then

she responded innocently to his kiss.

When she had kissed him back, Inuyasha deepened it more, and the kiss became passionate. One of Inuyasha's hands went to the back of Kagome's head and entangled itself in her soft black hair while the other hand still held her protectively to his body.

They kept kissing eachother passionately until they ran out of breath, and once they had caught it again Kagome leaned up and kissed him two more times before they could make themselves stop.

When they finally did Kagome gazed expectantly up into Inuyasha's eyes, with a blush tinting her cheeks, waiting for him to explain 'what she didn't understand'

"Kagome...what I mean when I say I want to protect you is..." He stared back at her, diving straight down into her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. "Is...I want to stay by your side and keep you safe from harm...forever."

"Inuyasha" She said his name happily.

"I need you here, with me Kagome. So does Shippou." He added.

"Inuyasha, of course i'll stay-- but what about my family? I can't just never go back without saying a word to them...what if they think that I died? I have to get back to them somehow..." And her eyes began to water up again.

"I'm sure there's somehow a way for you to go there and be able to come back again...Kaede would know! We'll ask her tomarrow." Kagome relaxed in Inuyasha's arms.

"I hope so Inuyasha.." She said seriously.

As soon as she said that Kagome was asleep. She had been up almost the entire night, and she was totally worn out. Just as she had gone to sleep, Inuyasha felt himself return back into his hanyou form. He was finally able to relax again.He scooted up against one of the cave walls and let himself drift off into sleep, with Kagome in his arms.

His sences kept keen and alert even in his sleep, for any signs of danger coming.

Though at the back of his mind he was worried that she would not be able to come back from her era.


	11. Mysterious jewel

**Chapter 11: Mysterious Jewel**

Kagome woke up much later on. Her eyes slid open slowly, and memories of what had happened just a few hours ago flooded into her mind, causing her to blush slightly.

'Inuyasha want's me to stay with him!' She thought happily. She didn't move from Inuyasha's warm embrace, instead Kagome just sat there and relaxed in it...

She looked up into Inuyasha's face...it too was so relaxed, she couldn't believe how peaceful his face looked. It was so natural, being close to him like this felt so natural as well...

Kagome subconsciously reached up with her bad hand to stroke his face when she realized which hand it was she had moved, she winced automaticaly as she waited for the pain, then there was none that shot through it, when there should have been pain.

"Huh?" She looked down at it and blinked, surprised. That was funny...it didn't look broken either...she checked her other hand which her nails had been broken off on, and they were back!

She opened and closed her hands just to test them.

"What's going on here...am I dreaming?" She asked herself. She looked down at her foot, and it wasn't swollen at all! She could move her toes now!

'Did Inuyasha somehow heal me, or...?' "Inuyasha?" She said gently. She saw one of his ears flicker at the sound of her voice. She really didn't want to wake him up because he had gotten even less sleep than she had. 'Should I wake him or not?' She thought both confused and excited. "Hey Inuyasha!" She whispered loudly, hoping that he'd wake up on his own.

He slowly opened his eyes, and he stared down at her sleepily.

"Hey." He responded to her lightly.

"Inuyasha look! I'm healed!" She moved her hands around of in front of his face so that he could see. Inuyasha's eyes widened as he was now fully awake.

"No way! But how did you...?"

"I don't know, honestly I thought you did something to me! My foot is healed also!" Inuyasha stood up and looked around the place that they were in.

"I knew it! I knew I senced magic in this place!"

"What magic-?"

"When we first came here I noticed that this place was glowing, but where was the light coming from? I thought it was a little strange...obviously this is a magical hot spring."

"A magical hot spring?"

"Yes, i'v never seen one because they are very rare but i'v heard of them. Their supposed to heal your body and grant one who's pure of heart's true wish, but like I believe that shit. I can't believe we actually found a real one though!"

"I guess since i'm all healed now, it really is magical..." She stared at her reflexion in the water when something shining up ahead caught her attention. She looked across the spring to see something glinting in the wall...

"Hey Inuyasha, do you see that?" She asked him curiously as she pointed to the shining place in the wall. He glanced over to it and saw the shining thing too.

"Yah... i'll go check it out."

"Be careful!" She told him warily.

"Keh." He snorted as he jumped across the river. He glanced down at the water and his eyes widened in shock. He saw his reflection looking back at him as a demon!

He shook it off, knowing that he wasn't a demon. He quickly forced it out of his head. Inuyasha looked closely at the wall and it was sparkly in that one area... He used one claw and experimentaly scratched lightly at the sparkling spot. Little pieces of it crumbled off just like an ordinary rock would...

'I know how to take care of this.' He wanted to know what the hell was making this wall sparkle!

Inuyasha drew his arm back, popped it a few times getting it ready, and then he swung his fist with great force into the rock wall with a loud "CRACK"

"Shit!" He cursed as his hand bounced off the cave. Blood began running down his knuckles but he had gotten to where he wanted to be...he watched pieces of rock tumble away to reveal a compartment, and silver light was pouring out of it.

Inuyasha, automaticaly drawn to the light, reached his hand into it...

"Inuyasha, are you sure you should be touching that!" Kagome stated worried.

"Keh." He spat. "Kagome I can handle it.." His hand grasped something solid and cold...he pulled it out and hopped back to Kagome. She walked over to him and they both looked at his fist, and as he opened it up, they saw the most beautiful jewel...it was multi-colored and super-shiny.

"Wow!" Kagome said amazed. Inuyasha peered at it with curiousity. "It's beautiful!"

"But what is it?"

"...a jewel of some-sort?" Kagome replied.

"Well duh! Of course it's a jewel!" He repeated sarcasticaly, staring her down. Kagome, instantly angered at his sarcasm, stared him down right back. They were battling a silent battle now with their eyes when all of the sudden...

"OU!" He yelled, as he dropped the jewel.

"Inuyasha-?"

"Damnit! It burned me!" He grouched while looking down at his scorched hands.

"Burned you-? Is it evil then?" She looked at the jewel which was lying on the ground. She crouched down and reached out to touch pick it back up when all the sudden she heard a loud "B-dmp. B-dmp." She glanced back up at Inuyasha who's bang's had fallen into his face, blocking out his golden eyes.

"Inu-yasha?" She asked slowly. His body was pulsing like the times when he changed his form from a hanyou, and it was scaring her. "Inuyasha!" She called out loudly.

She watched fearfuly as he turned all white, which was the last stage of his transformation and she could not take her eyes from him.

She saw the white fade away and her heart stopped beating and she stopped breathing. She took a fearful step back and held her hand over her heart as she tightly gripped her shirt. She was so afraid of what was happening to him, what he was becoming, then...


	12. Newer Problem

**Ch.12: A New Problem**

(Inuyasha's POV)

Kagome was staring at him shocked, she had even backed away from him a few steps, her eyes wide. What had happened to him to scare her like that, had he blacked out for a few seconds? He remembered her standing right there beside him, and now she was suddenly a few feet away and borderline scared!

"Kagome?" He asked questioningly. His voice sounded different...deeper?

"Inu...yasha?" She said with uncertainty. Her eyes shimmered as her body relaxed slightly, and her heartbeat began to slow down alittle. That's when he noticed that alot of things felt different about him. He looked down at his lengthened claws and his eyes widened, that's when he noticed that all of his sences had grown sharper than before! He was...

"Inuyasha...your a- demon!" Kagome said shocked. Inuyasha had grown just slightly taller, one purple streak was on each side of his cheek, maybe warning marks for other full demons to see- and then his eyes were just one shade of darker amber, and his fangs didn't poke out as much as when he was an evil full demon. Over-all he looked almost the same. But hotter.

"...how did it happen?" They both looked down at the jewel that was lying on the ground, and then they looked at eachother.

"I didn't know that there was another jewel that granted your wishes..." Kagome looked up to Inuyasha confused.

"I'v heard that these hot-springs held treasures and granted your wishes and such but...They are onlysaid to grant the good-hearted people's wishes..."

"Inuyasha! Do not say that about yourself! You have a greater heart than alot of humans!" She scolded him firmly but with a hint of sadness. How could he say that about himself?

Inuyasha just glared at her...but deep down he was touched by her words... His face softened after that, just slightly.

"Inuyasha do you..." She paused nervously. "do you feel like yourself?" He narrowed his eyes angrily at her, peeved again.

"What d'ya mean? Am I loosing my mind?" He said meanly.

"Not loosing it but---"

"Does it look like i'm going crazy Kagome!" He snapped at her. He was hurt that she would actually be scared of him, but he knew he couldn't overall blame her fot it.

He then caught the hurt look in Kagome's eyes. His heart immediately softened. "Look Kagome, i'm sorry for that..."

"It's ok.." She smiled up at him, but he could detect the hurt in her eyes. He felt like shit just then. "Well.." She started happily."It looks like you got your wish after-all Inuyasha."

Inuyasha stared adoringly at Kagome. "Let's go back to Kaede's and find out about how your gonna get home and back ok?"

"Kay." She replied. Inuyasha suddenly grabbed her hand and held it in his own. She looked up at him shocked, and blushed.

"What are you doing?"

"It's gonna get really dark up there and I don't wanna loose you in here." He answered her.

Kagome let him lead her through the dark cave... She thought she heard something scratching around like a mouse so she quickened her pace to keep beside Inuyasha when in her hurry she tripped over a rock and as she braced herself to hit the ground Inuyasha caught her in his strong arms.

"Uh...! Thank you for catching me." She breathed.

"Hrm. I can't have you breaking your foot again on me, can I now?" He told her gently.

As they made their way through the cave, she couldn't help but begin to think of not being able to return back after going home. In that case, would she leave to go back? Could she leave Inuyasha? Then again, could she leave her family and her entire life on the other side of the well?

The bright sun hit Kagome as she stepped out of the cave and onto the soft ground which was covered with leaves from the trees...she became instantly blinded.

She reached up with her arm and shielded her eyes from the bright sun as she tried to squint at Inuyasha to see where he was at.

"Come on Kagome, once we get further into the forest you'll be able to see well again."

She glared at him through squinted eyes. "Oh yah? Well, maybe it's because your a big-bad-demon now and the sun isn't bugging you, but I just came from a completely pitch-black cave into the sunlight and I can't see at all!"

"I wasn't bein' rude." He grumbled back at her. It was true though, he wasn't having trouble with his eyes. Maybe it was because the whole time he was in there, he could see everything in the dark. He had seen a mouse scurry by Kagome at one point in time but he decided it would be better to not tell her about it just then.

She must have heard it though because that's when she rushed forward and tripped on the rock.

They began quietly walking through the woods. Inuyasha leading them back home.

Kagome's thoughts were on her home, and Inuyasha's were on Kagome. He didn't want her to leave him, at all.

Then, a new demonic scent reached his nose. He stopped suddenly, and sniffed the air. And then suddenly the forest grew thick with something sinister. Birds flew away and little animals took off, the entire place was crawling trying to get away from what was coming.

'So even the animals are sencing this..' He thought.

Then he heard Kagome's firm voice. The one that she always used when she was in a serious battle. "Inuyasha, what's---" He heard her suddenly scream out.

"KAGOME!" He turned around and looked at her. She was holding her hands on top of her head and she looked like she was in so much pain, she fell to her knees onto the ground.

"What's wrong!" He yelled as he ran to her, wanting to help her but he couldn't because a demon was coming. He took a fighting stance in front of her.

"It feels like my head's splitting open!" She yelled in anguish.

"Kagome.." He was scared for her. He would have been excited to fight this demon and try out his skills as a demon had Kagome not been hurting like that. But this demon, he could tell already, was going to be one hell of a fight.

"Inuyasha!" She called out in pain, as she curled up on the ground. Inuyasha's ears perked back behind him at a slight noise, and then it sounded like something was slicing through the air.

He automatically seized Kagome from her spot on the ground and quickly jumped to another place, further away. He concentrated on finding the demon, he couldn't place exactly where it was but...if he hadn't gotten Kagome away from there she would have been cut to pieces.

The ground was torn up where she had been. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes as he tried to keep his cool. He set her down onto the ground.

"Kagome, hang in there! I'll take care of this quickly! Just hang in there!" He ran back out to where he had been standing before, he was pissed. This was no ordinary demon. He could smell that it was there but he couldn't exactly pin-point where it was. And he could feel the evilness radiating from this demon.

"WHY DON'T YOU SHOW YOURSELF!" He yelled as he withdrew the Tessaiga.

He heard a woman laugh darkly.

"Are you sure you want that? Somehow I don't think that you can handle all of me.." She said seductively. Inuyasha ground his teeth together in anger. He did not like to be toyed with.

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Ok! So that's all for now!

Thank you guyz so much for reviewing, I feel that my story is luved now and so I have no doubts about continuing it.

ooooo who's this new woman? And where did she come from? Why is she attacking Kagome? (hehe, you won't find out till next time:P)

umm...that's about it, and i'm glad yall like my story! So i'll update l8er tomarrow:)

But damnit, I have a freakin' cavity and now I have to go to the dentist soon and get a shot (I.hate.shots.) so like yah, whish me luck. Shots in the gums don't hurt that bad right? O.O;;;;

Neways Ja ne!


	13. Kurishuna

**Ch. 13: **

A tall slender woman who was Inuyasha's height and was dressed in a black no sleeved top which had a slit in it going down to her stomach which let her cleavage show immensely, and wore a very short black skirt suddenly materialized in front of him.

He flinched but quickly regained his composure and took up a defensive stance. It shocked him how quickly she had appeared in front, but still he stood there defiantly making sure that she knew he wasn't afraid, and he was ready to fight.

Her deep unnatural red hair flowed smoothly down the middle of her back, some of it falling over her shoulders and covering her chest. Her deeply purple eyes stared cooly at Inuyasha, seemingly searching him for something.

He shivered. He felt an ice-cold grasp covering him as he felt like she could see straight into his very soul.

He sensed pure evil from her, seeing the blackness of her aura flowing off her in waves.

As she looked at Inuyasha, she had a sinister looking smirk on her cherry red lips, as if daring him to attack.

He saw her glance over in Kagome's direction and look back to him again. Her eyes held laughter in them as they soaked in Kagome's pain.

Inuyasha clenched his teeth together, feeling nervous.

"Who the hell are you!" He growled menacingly. "If anything happends to her- I will fucking tear you apart slowly, limb from limb. And you can bet on that with your life."

She calmly stood her ground, and began to laugh out loud at him.

"Oh my, Inuyasha. That is a dangerous threat now, but shouldn't you have waited for me to introduce myself before the insults? You don't even have my acquaintance. It's only the proper thing to do."

"How the hell would someone like you know anything about proper!" He yelled.

She kept her eyes cooly on Inuyasha. This demon woman stood there so still, undisturbed by what he said. Inuyasha glared at her, trying to keep his cool but it was hard. She was making him so angry, and so on edge just by standing there not doing anything. Not showing any emotion at all, but confidence.

One of his ears twisted towards Kagome as he heard her whimper something...His heart began to pound faster in his chest. He had to help her!

Inuyasha swung his sword over his shoulder and cracked his knuckles on his left hand.

"If you don't stop hurting Kagome, i'm going to skin you alive right here, right now. Trust me, it will be painful." His voice was very low and deadly. No one could hurt Kagome and get away with it.

"Now now Inuyasha dear. Don't be so harsh, and let me introduce myself. I am _Kurishuna_ (Dark)."

She snapped her fingers once and Inuyasha heard a sound of pain come from Kagome. He tore his eyes away from Kurishuna and found Kagome. She was on her hands and knees trying to push herself up to stand from the ground, he could see even from far away that her body was trembling.

'Kagome!' He thought panicked. 'The spell's been lifted for now...' He stared back at Kurishuna as her voice drawled on.

"I control things with my mind, as you have just witnessed with miss Kagome, and I can bend your will to mine. Darkness is my alli, and I can use it to my very dearest pleasure. I love causing pain, I :revel: in it, including my own. That is my most pleasurable hobby..." She drug her tongue across her fangs teasingly as she gestured with one of her hands to Kagome.

Inuyasha was filled with disgust.

He heard her small voice call out to him "Inuyasha?" weakly.

"Kagome!" He called back. "Are you all right?"

"Yes.." she breathed. He could clearly tell that she wasn't, she was so weak that she couldn't stand herself up.

Kurishuna's sinister eyes turned to Kagome, and she made sure to lock her eyes with the little girl's.

Kagome's heart stopped when she saw those eyes for the first time. She was terrifed!

"Wasn't that nice, little Kagome? All of that pain? Wasn't it such a glorious feeling?" Her voice kept smooth. Just Kurishuna's cold gaze was enough for Kagome, she almost couldn't handle it...something about her was horrifying.

"Don't you talk to her!" Inuyasha yelled as he ran and got into his protective stance in front of Kagome, he dared Kurishuna with his eyes to come any closer to her.

"Why not, Inuyasha?" She pretend-pouted. Inuyasha growled low in his throat as he grew more adjetated with every word she spoke.

"Who exactly are you and why did you attack Kagome like that?" His voice was smoldering with rage.

"Why did I attack Kagome?" She put her finger to her chin and rolled her eyes towards the sky pretending to think. "Oh, yes. You see, I have this fedish with miko's. I dislike them completely because they are so goody-goody. They plainly bug me. But I especially don't like this particular one, because she slew my Naraku." She purred.

"So your one of his reincarnations?"

"Mmm. To an extent. But enough about myself, I have a duty to finish."

"What duty?" He growled. Kagome finally managed to pull herself up from the ground and she was currently leaning on a tree for support with Inuyasha in front of her. Her head was still pounding...that pain had been unreal.

"Avenging Naraku by killing that little miko of course!" She laughed. He heard Kagome gasp out loud behind him, which made him want to protect her even fiercer.

"Your gonna havta get through me first bitch. Keh. Who the fuck would want to avenge Naraku's death?" He spat at her.

"Isn't that obvious?" She retorted sourly.

"Then your fucked up more than I thought." He growled.

"If it's such a problem, why don't you :lie down: and die!" She yelled as she charged towards Inuyasha and Kagome.

Kagome's legs automatically locked up and she clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, waiting for the worst.

Inuyasha grabbed her out of the way just in time. There was an explosion behind them and Inuyasha kept running, not looking back.

"Shit!" He cursed out loud.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked panicked. He let her down to the ground.

"She's dissapeared again." He was looking around and sniffing the air and listening as hard as he could but she was completely gone, though he could still sense her aura. He remembered how she had appeared in front of him so suddenly last time, and he was just alittle freaked out.

His ear perked forward as he heard the crunching of a leaf, and he punched blindly at the air in front of him and his fist collided with Kurishuna's face. He heard something crack and then she screamed.

She appeared again a few feet away from them, hands clasped over her nose, blood running all down her hands and splattering onto the ground.

"Keh. Looks like I got you pretty damn good."

Kagome held her hands over her mouth at the site of blood, trying not to get sick from it.

"Inuyasha you got her!"

They watched as she snapped her own nose back into place, and then whiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand.

Kagome's eyes widened.

"I told you, I enjoy pain!" She said laughingly, which gave Kagome and Inuyasha the chills.


	14. Is she gone?

**Ch. 14: **

"Well then." Inuyasha started menacingly. "For your sake, you better enjoy it because as of right now i'm kickin' this up a few notches." He popped his claws and kept staring at her, hiding any facts that he was even a little afraid. "Kagome." He whispered her name quickly and quietly, so that only she would hear. "Maybe you should get lost for awhile.."

He knew that this fight would quickly turn to be really dangerous, and he was making it her choice to leave or stay.

"Inuyasha! I won't leave you!" She answered him defiantly. Inuyasha was grateful for her staying, but it scared the fuck out of him. Then, without a word he charged towards Kurishuna with his Tetsaiga, ready to kill.

Kurishuna dissipated just as he reached where she had been standing and had swung his deadly sword at her.

"Damnit!" He clenched his teeth together and looked around. "Where the hell is she?"

"How does she do that?" Kagome wondered out loud in amazement. She too looked around trying to help Inuyasha find where this demon had gone when Inuyasha suddenly yelled out her name. She had enough time to see that his eyes were looking not at her, but behind her.

"Huh?" She instinctively turned her head around, knowing that something was there. She saw a sword being held over her head and she had no time to do anything. Her life flashed before her own eyes as she stood, waiting, for death... The last thought that ran through her head was 'Inuyasha!'

He shoved Kagome down to the ground hard and covered her with his just in time for the sword to pierce deeply into his shoulder and the point actually made it out of the other side. Inuyasha sucked in sharply as immense pain hit him.

He heard Kurishuna agonizingly scream out something, he couldn't understand what as the wind around them suddenly picked up, shaking the trees and everything around them blowing leaves and such things quickly away, and then there was that blinding white light suddenly appeared, making him hide his eyes from it in Kagome's hair...

He felt Kurishuna yank her sword out of his shoulder. A thick stream of his blood ran down from his shoulder-wound and soaked through his robe, staining it a dark crimson red.

(Kagome's POV)

She had seen her life flash completely and fully before her, she waited, her eyes wide as she stared into death's face, hoping it wouldn't come.

'I can't get away from her! Mama...home...Inuyasha will rescue me...Inuyasha...'

She felt something crash into her body and as she hit something hard with her back she felt sudden pain all over as her breath escaped painfuly from her lungs so that she couldn't get it back and everything around her went black...

As she was sinking into unconsciousness something was nagging unrelentingly at her to stay focused...stay awake...what was it? All her thoughts were jumbled up and she was having a hard time concentrating...When she heard what sounded to her like someone gasping out in pain.

"Is it me?" She asked herself quietly out loud, still in a daze. She tried to look around with her unfocused brown eyes, still not quite remembering what was happening...but something was on top of her keeping her pinned down...she couldn't really see, the colors around her were blurred and mixing together, and her body wouldn't move...

She felt something warm and sticky pooring down onto her chest. This made her think of blood and then...she swore she could hear someone yelling her name...then something clicked inside of her head.

All of her thoughts came flooding back to her as she took many deep breaths trying to get her focus back... 'Inuyasha!'

Her vision cleared and the first thing she noticed was Inuyasha above squishing her painfuly into the ground...She tried to squirm out from beneath him.

"Your okay!" He said exasperated. He came up off of her and moved over to crouch beside her and helped her to sit up. His concerned eyes never left hers, as he tried to make sure that everything was fine with her, besides her abnormally fast beating heart. She seemed like she was ok...

Kagome sucked down air as she tried to talk to him...

"Inuyasha! I thought I was----" She began to cough, and couldn't stop. Inuyasha patted her on the back to try and help her get her breaths back.

"Kagome, don't try to talk. Just sit here and stay calm while I take care of y-- this."

"Inuyasha!" She coughed out as he left her side, she didn't want him to leave her. 'Take care of what? What is he talking about?' She thought panicking. "Your bleeding really badly!" She called worriedly after him.

"Fuck! Where did that bitch go!" He growled, ignoring Kagome's plea to stay. 'That fucking cowardly whore...She's dissapeared again...how in the hell is she doing that!'

"Kurishuna! I remember now!" She raised her hand to her head to smack herself, how could she forget about her? As her hand collided with her head she winced as a burning fiery sensation ran through it. "Oww!" She whined. She pulled her hand quickly away from her head and taking a glance down at it she saw blood...her head was bleeding!

As she was looking down at her hand, she noticed the crimson covering her white school shirt...her heart missed a beat as she saw it.

'I don't feel any pain at all...so how am I---" She gasped out loud. 'Inuyasha! He's the one this is from, not me! Oh no, please be careful Inuyasha, he's hurt really badly!'

(Inuyasha's P.O.V.)

As he left Kagome, he realized that he could not move his right arm, which he used to hold Tetsaiga as he fought, at all. He couldn't even hold his sword in it, he had to switch to holding it with his left hand.

When Kurishuna had impaled him through the shoulder, he realized, she tore through the muscles in his shoulder and now he was inable to move his entire arm and hand at all.

This was not good...

'But what was with all that wind and light and shit?' He thought to himself. It took him a minute to realize that he could no longer sense her demonic aura, he couldn't smell her at all and the thickness of the air that she had brought when she came was gone. Everything felt almost normal again...

'When all that wind and shit came, does it mean that I have defeated her?' He visibly relaxed and looked around. The forest was relaxed once again...

He reluctantly sheathed his sword and began to walk back to Kagome.

He saw Kagome stand up and she closed the small gap between them by running to him.

"Is she gone?" She stared up at him, her eyes shimmered with fear and innocense.

"For now...I think. Are you all right?" He saw the deep cut on her head and he felt so bad for letting her get hurt like that. He wanted so badly to make it go away...to him, it symbolized that he had hurt her. He had let her down.

He hated seeing her hurt in any form and/or fashion and so he reached out to her head with his left hand and gently stroked next to the place on her head where a deep cut was, subconsciously trying to make the hurt go away. She winced, and he drew his hand back regretfuly. "Sorry Kagome."

She grabbed his hand in hers, squeezed it and smiled forgivingly at him.

"Inuyasha, i'm all right." She told him knowingly.

His heart stopped. How did she always seem to read him and his actions so well? "But your bleeding really badly.." Her voice shook and she looked up at him with concerned eyes, brimming with tears. "Because of me again..."

"Keh, Kagome. This is nothin'...I can hardly feel it."

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Hey guyz!

I'm so sorry for making u peeple wait so long for this chapter! (I hope u luved it) thanx for all ur reviews too, i'm really luvin' them!

Oh, and by the waaay--

I didn't update on the weekend because sunday was my beloved 17th b-day. And i'v been partying all weekend (since friday) with my buddies and so yah...i'v been hyped up on cokes and cookies and pizza and ice-cream and chips and cake and candy and whatever the hell else we ate...so yah, i'll probably have a new chapter for ya tomarrow!

Lots of luv to you guyz!


	15. 200 years

**Ch. 15: **

Kagome's distressed eyes burned into his amber ones as she instantly became angry at his obvious denial.

'Why won't he ever just :let me: take care of him without us having a fight?' She thought angrily, her eyes still shooting fire into his.

He leaned slightly away from her but still looked deep into her eyes, his own smoldering with challenge, worried that she might suddenly turn on him...he never knew with Kagome how she would react to things...he too though, was angered.

Everytime he got injured she wanted to baby him! He had survived for at least a hundred years sustaining all kinds of injuries to himself, and he never needed to have "special treatment." Not that he didn't like Kagome's treatment but, it made him feel weak. He had tried time and time again to tell her not to treat him but she always refused, and always they ended up getting into a huge stupid argument, which ended up usually taking Kagome back home, which pissed him off so much.

Kagome broke the silence, but not the staring match.

"Can I at least see how bad it is? Look, your bleeding everywhere!" She motioned to her now crimson-stained school shirt, and then to the puddle of blood on the ground where Inuyasha was standing. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her in agitation, and then without a word to her sat down indian-style in front of a tree.

It was his way of telling her to go ahead, but he still wasn't happy about it.

Relief swept over Kagome as she realized that there wasn't going to be a fight! Inuyasha was going to let it go, and let her help him!

She smiled up at him as she kneeled beside him on the ground.

"Thank you Inuyasha...you don't know how much better this makes me feel." She said sweetly to him.

"Keh." He ignored her and tried to one-handedly pull of his kimono, which did prove to be much harder than he had thought. After a while of struggling Kagome but in.

"Inuyasha, let me help you with this.."

"I'v got it Kagome." He barked at her. She glared at him again.

"Obviously not!" She barked back.

"Damnit! I can do this myself!"

"Then why isn't it off yet!" They yelled at eachother like that for awhile and the sun was much higher in the sky now. They soon forgot about what they had been getting ready to do, because they were so caught up in this argument and no one was here to stop them from arguing. Kagome's face was pressed all up close to Inuyasha's face.

"I just can't understand you!" She ground out exasperated.

"What the hell::I'm: confusing!" He said in shock, staring at her wide-eyed.

"Yes!"

"How the hell am :I: confusing when your the one who cries when your :happy: and always studies for those damn "tests" even though you hate them!" He growled back at her, moving closer to her face.

She slammed her hands down onto the ground in anger, but Inuyasha didn't wince away at all.

Even though he had been slightly afraid of her, he refused to show it. His dog instints were kicking into over-drive at this moment and he felt the need to show her who was the alpha...to dominate her.

"Let's just drop this." She told him icily.

"Hell no Kagome. We're gonna finish this---" He fumed at her and scrunched down his eyebrows.

Before he had finished his last word, she had somehow without his knowing, pulled off his top kimono by herself and she tossed it on the ground beside them.

Kagome gasped in horror. All the pint up anger left Kagome as she saw his arm...it was bad.

It had turned to a dark purple and a sickly dark green color all around this massive hole in his shoulder where there was still wet blood slowly oozing out of it, and there was an even bigger one where the sword had pierced through the back of his shoulder.

"Inuyasha, we're going to have to get you to Kaede's...I don't think i'm experienced enough to do anything for you now accept maybe slow down your bleeding..." She told him seriously.

"Kagome all I need is wrest and i'll be fine." She stared angrily at him.

"I don't care :what: you say, we're getting you to Kaede's for help. This is very bad Inuyasha.." She looked around the woods they were in for something to use to stop it from bleeding...when she saw nothing she tore one of the long sleeves off of her shirt at the seems.

Inuyasha watched her as she dedicatedly tied it tight around his shoulder. She ripped off her other sleeve and repeated the action. Inuyasha felt a pang of guilt in his heart and he looked away from her.

"Sorry about your shirt.." He said quietly. Kagome looked up at him as she finished tying it tightly around to stop his bleeding.

"Inuyasha, it was ruined anyways." She laughed alittle, trying to comfort him and one of his ears perked back towards her. "Besides, I have more back at my house." As he felt his stress and anger lift from him at her laughter, which made him feel all warm and happy on the inside, continued to not look at her. He had to keep his cool and not let her know how she was affecting him at this time... Instead he focused on listening to the sounds of the woods and wondered if Kurishuna had really been killed that easily...trying to keep his whole "tough-guy" act up.

"Do you think you can make it back to Kaede's tonight? This really should be taken care of really quickly.."

He suddenly stood up, seeming like he was in no pain.

"Of course I can make it to Kaede's. Hrmph." He stared down at her angrily, and then pulled her up off the ground with his left hand, just to emphasize that he was all right.

"Inuyasha!" She whined. "Don't strain yourself!" She bumped his not-hurt arm with her elbow to emphasize :her: point as he ground his teeth together to not make a noise of pain, and he angrily huffed to the front and lead the way back to Kaede's.

As they walked on through the woods together, things began to become more familiar to Kagome. They were getting close to home now...

She had noticed over the past few minutes that Inuyasha had began to slow down.

"Hey Inuyasha?"

"What."

"Umm. I need to take a little wrest...you don't mind do you?" She said politely as she sat down onto the ground anyways. He turned around and glared down at her.

"I thought you were the one in a hurry to get to Kaede's."

"I am! But i'm so tired!" She looked up at him with those big innocent brown eyes...He stood there and just turned his head to the side and closed his eyes irritably. He could see what she was up to. She was trying to make him wrest, and not doing it so much for herself. He was slightly irritated but deep down happy that she was taking into consideration how he felt so much.

He decided, against his demon self to sit down beside her.

He saw her look curiously up at him and he kept his eyes forward, trying to think of things besides her.

"Hey Inuyasha, just out of curiosity because I never knew..." She stopped talking and waited for a response from him.

"Yah?"

"How old exactly are you? Minus those fifty years?" He looked down at her slightly caught off-guard. Talk about things out of the blue...

"Well...i'm around 200 years I guess..I stopped counting awhile back."

Kagome looked at him in shock.

"I had no idea you were that old! You don't act like it at all!" She said in shock as she pointed her finger at his face. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"What's that mean?" He asked in his deep threatening voice. Kagome laughed at him. "What now?" He slightly relaxed, he'd never understand her.

"It's just unreal that your that old and you look so young...and act it too." She added playfuly. He stared her down for that and grabbed her finger and pushed it out of his face. "No, I don't mean it offensevely! It's just unreal!"

"Why? I'v told you before, I was immortal even when I was half-demon." She opened her mouth, then closed it and looked away deep in thought. He raised an eyebrow at her actions.

"What was that?" He wanted to know what was on her mind, what she had been about to say.

She stared off into the woods, her eyes distant. "Umm..." She got this look of concentration and determination on her face. "If your immortal as a demon, and then you marry a mortal human...she will just grow old and then die while the demon keeps living on?"

"Well...that's not exactly right.."

"Huh? How?" She asked him extremely interested. Inuyasha shifted uncomftorably, not wanting to really talk about it.

"Keh. Kagome, why do you wanna know?" He asked softly. The tender tone in his voice along with his question caused Kagome's heart to skip a beat inside her chest. His deep amber eyes stared curiously into hers.

"I...was only curious...So she dies and the demon lives on forever, or what? What is it I have wrong?" Inuyasha looked straight ahead again, and there was a short silence then, as he thought about how to explain it.

"Full demons have alot of power, and it enables them to live forever, or at least until something else kills them but they never die of natural causes...When a demon...eh..chooses a mate---- or wife, whatever you humans say, they exchange and share eachother's power so that if one of them dies...the other also will die. It's just apart of demon bonding...But when a demon mates with a human, he shares his power with her and elongates her life...and as long as he continues living, she will age at his pace, unless he dies and then she will automatically turn the age she is supposed to be."

"Wow...and is it vice versa if the female dies first?"

"Because he shared his power with the human girl, he won't die if she does. But it depends on the demon too. Say dogs mate for life and are extremely loyal to their families, he would probably go crazy and follow his mate to death rather than continue to live his life."

Inuyasha turned his eyes to look at Kagome from the side and see what her reaction was. She too was staring ahead at the woods, thinking.

"It's amazing how loyal..." She whispered to herself. "It's sad really." Kagome felt Inuyasha watching her and she turned her head to look up at him. Inuyasha's eyes were smoldering with something very deep. Kagome had seen this look in his eyes on only several important occasions and she couldn't quite place what it was but...it made her heart stop and her blood rush and her tummy fill with butterflies all at once.

She loved it, but it confused her as well...why was he staring at her like that? And why did his face suddenly seem like it was so close to hers? She subconsciously leaned forward towards him...trying to get closer. His eyes were locked onto hers, and wouldn't let her look away.

Their faces were less than an inch apart and she could feel his soft breath tickling her face. She instinctively closed her eyes and she felt his lips press sofly against hers. She felt the need to get closer to him and, all on instinct, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her.

She felt him nibble on her bottom lip and she couldn't supress a sigh.

Inuyasha loved the feel of her soft lips...and he nibbled at her bottom one playfuly to see what she'd do. When she sighed into his mouth he could hardly stand it...his instincts were telling him to do things to her and it took everything he had to fight them. He pulled slightly away from her to try and calm himself down but found that neither of them wanted to stop and Kagome whined when he had pulled ever so slightly away which drove him crazy, his heart sped up quickly...he brought his mouth back to hers and made this kiss even deeper, and they kissed eachother and then he pulled away quickly panting...Kagome tried to kiss him again but he grabbed her with his good arm and hugged her tightly to his chest instead.

He had to stop right now or else...


	16. New Arrivals

**Ch. 16: **

As Kagome sat there, loving the feel of being cuddled against Inuyasha and enjoying the attention he was giving her even more. She was so caught up in the moment, that she was shocked when a high-pitched squeel filled the air.

She jumped in her place, but Inuyasha jumped straight up onto his feet so quickly that he knocked Kagome away from him and she painfully landed on her butt as she hit the ground.

"Inuyasha what were you doing to Kagome?" Shippou yelled demandingly as he came closer to them, glaring daggers at Inuyasha. He hopped up onto Kagome's lap and noted her rubbing her butt, too. He scoffed up at Inuyasha.

"And now look! You even hurt her!" Kagome glanced up at Shippou, and cocked one of her eyebrows.

"Look Shippou, i'm fine! You just startled us...that's all!" She stuttered as she felt her cheeks began to grow warm. 'Oh no!' She thought panicked 'I hope he didn't see us!' She tried to fan her hands in the air to make the blush go away.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome confused, and then looked at Shippou angrily.

"Are you really okay, Kagome?" He asked truly concerned, his eyes wide.

"What the hell are you talking about brat!" Inuyasha reached down and grabbed Shippou by his fuzzy fox-tail. Shippou defiantly kept arguing.

"You hurt her! Your lucky she forgave you this time!"

"For the last time.." Inuyasha's eye twitched. "It was an accident."

"It was an accident that you were trying to eat Kagome's face!" Shippou yelled at him, pointing his small finger at Inuyasha. "Don't try to make it seem like so! I saw you try to do it!" At seeing Inuyasha standing there so still, his mouth hanging open, and his wide shocked eyes with pupils dialiated...

'Most likely because I scared him.' Shippou puffed himself up proudly at his accomplishment, he then turned to Kagome, who he noted was very red in the face.

"Your so lucky! I got here just in time to save your mouth didn't I Kagome?" He asked happily.

He saw her mouth drop open in what she tried to make a smile but had seriously failed, as she had a similar expression to Inuyasha's on her face.

"S-Shippou, don't tell anyone about that ok?" She asked him when she was able to calm herself down just alittle, though she was positive that her face was as red as a tomato.

"Sure Kagome----But don't ya think that you should tell Kaede about his problem? I mean sometimes dogs tend to chew on things but I didn't know he'd do that to :you: of all people Kagome! But then again this :is: Inuyasha and---" Shippou stopped babbling on and looked up at Inuyasha, his green eyes very wide. "Y-your a demon! That's why your scent smells like when my mom and dad used to--"

"SHUT UP!" Inuyasha hollered loudly and heaved poor little Shippou through the air and over the trees until he was out of site and his screaming could no longer be heard. Inuyasha's cheeks were painted a tint of red as he glared off in Shippo's direction, panting hard, his pupils just tiny black dots in his eyes.

Kagome was sort of relieved Inuyasha had done that, she too had been feeling very awkward.

She watched him turn to her, a blush still there but she could immediately tell that he was not in a happy mood. She also still had a blush on her face. Why had he come at such a perfect time!

'But if he was here, then we should be close to Kaede's!' Kagome thought with releif. She shut her eyes with her eyebrows drawn tightly down and sighed.

"Kagome, let's go. We're not far off and i'm sure you can make it for one more mile." His voice had been stern.

She looked up at him, slightly agitated that he said that, she had only stopped for :him: she wasn't the one who had actually been tired!

She opened her mouth to say something but he turned his back to her and began to walk off.

She quickly got over it though as she followed him. For some reason as they approached Kaede's hut she began to think about her home.

She looked up towards the light blue sky, which she could just see bits and pieces of through the thick cover of dark green leaves which were hanging onto large and healthy limbs that were connected to these :huge: trees that completely towered over herself and Inuyasha. She noted the sun-rays that shone brilliantly through the small spaces in-between the trees as she turned away from the trees and looked ahead at Inuyasha, as she began to admire him to.

As he walked, he would occasionaly come under the rays of light which made him shine so beautifuly...

'Who could ever have hated him?'...she thought passionately as she was hypnotized by his demonic beauty.

She watched him from behind...even though he was a demon, he wasn't scary at all. Or at least his appearances wern't, but Kagome knew much better than that. He had protected her from every possible danger that had come her way, which was about everything. And here she was, still alive and walking through the woods back to her second home, all thanks to him. But what thanks did he have to give :her? She felt herself grow sad as she looked at his wounded shoulder and her blood-stained shirt.

Then she pondered with herself just when exactly it was that she had fallen so in love with him to be thinking about him in such a way!

She then remembered their first kiss back at the cave...it had felt so natural and good...maybe it was a good thing that it had been his human night because if he had been a demon then he probably would have heard her heart-beating ahundred times a second!

'Wait...if he's a full demon now then doesn't that mean he won't turn human ever again? How amazing that our first real kiss had been on his last human night!' She was both amazed and sad at once.

Kagome subconsciously brought her hand up to her mouth and brushed her fingers against her lips, remembering. She was so deep in thought that she hadn't realized until just then that they had made it to the outskirts of the village. She followed Inuyasha onto the thin little roads above the rice fields.

'Wait a minute...I hope he's not still angry! He hasn't said a word since Shippou has been gone---'

"Inuyasha?" She asked politely.

"Yah Kagome?" He replied softly to her. It sounded like he had been deep in his own thoughts too. He turned his head around to glance curiously at her.

"Um...How's your shoulder?" She asked him trying to start up a random conversation.

"It doesn't hurt, and it's stopped bleeding. All in all it's getting better." He told her in his usual Inuyasha voice as he turned away from her again.

"That's good!" She replied happily. "I'm relieved over that. I was worried back there that you had lost to much blood but it's all fine now isn't it?" He just kept walking, and that hurt her alittle but she got over it as they had come to the main village.

Inuyasha stopped suddenly in front of her and was concentrated on something ahead of him.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked walking up beside him. When she got no responce from him she stared ahead curious and noticed a small group of men, about five, dressed all in black talking together not to to far away.

"Who are they?"

"Hell if I know." 'And what are they doing here?' He narrowed his eyes in agitation at the men. One of them noticed Inuyasha and made eye contact with him, then casually looked away.

He automaticaly did not like the guy.

"But i'm gonna find out."

"Inuyasha no!" Kagome grabbed his sleeve before he could walk off. "Don't start trouble!" She hissed. He glared down at her.

"I'm just gonna see who they are! No trouble!" He pulled his arm away from her and began to walk towards the group again. She glared back and grabbed the back of his haori.

"Inuyasha! Don't make me say "it"!" She warned him. He angrily stared down at her and both angry pairs of eyes locked. Ok, so she could dethiently tell he was ticked off.

"What's with you? Their probably just passing through the village Inuyasha! Let's just make a truce and go back to Kaede's and ask her about them all right?"

"Keh. What would she know about them."

"Well let's ask!" She finally convinced him to go, which relieved her.

As they were walking by the group of men Kagome glanced over at them. One of the men looked up and their eyes locked together. Kagome felt his dark blue eyes watching her until the two of them had gone out of site.

She didn't want to say anything to Inuyasha though because she did not want to get him riled up, but that guy, despite his good looks, gave her a strange vibe.


	17. Ninja Voices

**Ch. 17**

So that was the last straw. Inuyasha really, really did not like this guy. He was only :waiting: for him to do something wrong, and then there Inuyasha would be, and the first thing he'd do to that asshole for looking at Kagome like that was to rip off his manliness, and then he would go through a long and purposely drawn-out death and he would make it so excrutiatingly painful...the basturd deserved it.

"Inuyasha?"

"What is it?" He asked turning his head around to glare at her because he was in a bad mood.

"Um...you passed up Kaede's hut." Kagome pointed out. He turned his head back in that direction, and noticed she was right. Now he really felt like getting into a fight.

"Keh. I wasn't goin' in that direction anyways. I was walkin' you back and now i'm goin' somewhere else." Kagome narrowed her eyes.

"Oh no your not."

"Don't tell me I can't!"

"Not with that wound you :can't:" She yelled at him. He growled back at her. "Inuyasha, your such a demon!"

"Well duh!"

"I didn't mean it to be a compliment!"

"Children, please stop fighting." Came Kaede's firm voice. Both of them stopped yelling, and turned to look wide-eyed at Kaede.

"Where have ye been for the past few days? I was worried."

"More like where have :you: been! I came here a few days ago lookin' for you but you weren't home."

"Ah that day. I was out assisting with a birth in the village." She explained calmly.

"Keh." Inuyasha closed his eyes and walked inside huffily. Kagome waited to walk in behind him just to make sure he didn't run away.

They seated themselves down inside of Kaede's hut. Inuyasha was cross-legged sitting across from Kagome and Kagome's knees were neatly folded under herself.

"So I see you'v made your wish with the shikon-no-tama?" She stated, noticing that Inuyasha had become a full demon.

"In a way...it's a long story Kaede." Kagome answered for Inuyasha.

"I see. Then i'll prepare the stew and we can talk of it during dinner."

Inuyasha was really not in a patient mood and shifted around a few times trying to calm down. Kagome, on the other hand, sat patiently and dug through her yellow bag to see if she had any changes of clothes available, which she didn't.

"Inuyasha, that looks to be a terrible wound you'v got there. Might I take a look at it?" Kaede asked as she threw the last log into the fire and sat her pot filled with water on it.

"Hmph. Do as you wish lady." He barked.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded with a glare his way. He closed his eyes to ignore her, then pulled of his haori. The skin was already beginning to close up. It was still very tender and soft in that area but at least he had completely stopped bleeding.

Kagome stepped curiously over to inspect it with Kaede.

"These wounds have healed quickly to have only happened maybe an hour ago..." Kaede stated to herself, taking notes. 'It looks as if there is nothing we can do for his wounds...but his kimono needs to be washed.'

"Sooo let me guess, Inuyasha. It doesn't hurt at all ne?" Kagome stated all too sweetly.

"I told you that before Kagome." He replied in a low agitated voice. Kagome smirked and lightly poked the wound with her pointer finger.

"OUUUU!" He jumped back away from them. "G-Get away from me!"

"But Inuyasha, I thought it didn't hurt at all!" She immitated a fake shocked voice. He glared back at her and she laughed evily at him.

"You two cut it out." Kaede stated with finality. They both turned to stare at her. "So Inuyasha, Kagome, how did he get wounds like this?"

"Well...You see---" Kagome began the story about how she got hurt and then they were trapped in the cave and then told Kaede about the jewel that turned him demon and the springs, but left out both kisses.

"So, ye found a magical hotspring? That does amaze me. I havn't ever seen one myself but I wish I could have...yes indeed. And I am so happy that my sister has been put to wrest. So the jewel was purified I expect?"

"Yes...everything's been worked out accept for..." Kagome's voice sadly trailed off. Kaede stared thoughtfuly at Kagome as she waited patiently.

Kagome looked down at Shippou who was now sitting in her lap sipping happily on his soup. He had found his way back to them now..

She noted Inuyasha in the corner suddenly take a long sip of soup and close his eyes agitatedly. His foot also began to tap against the floor, and she could have sworn she heard him growl.

"Well..." Kagome thought about what to say. "If the shikon-no-tama is gone now, and if I go home to my era, will I be able to come back here without having it?"

Inuyasha's eyes opened to look over at Kaede seriously. Kaede thought for a moment...

"Well, not without the shikon jewel you won't be able to come back." Kagome slumped her shoulders and hung her head, saddened, and wondered what in the world should she do? Inuyasha sat up stiffly and straight.

"Are you sure Kaede?" He asked softly.

"Hmm. There are ways around that though." They both looked to her hopefuly, curiousness in their eyes. "You see, Inuyasha can go through using his necklace. And so Kagome you too should be able to go through if we find ye another magical item."

"How long will that take Kaede?" She asked hopefuly.

"I might have it right here, too." She said as she reached into her kimono and searched around for the "item." All three of the others watched her do this in anticipation.

Inuyasha's foot was still tapping against the floor.

"Hey Kaede." Inuyasha called.

"Hm?" She looked up at him as she still searched her robes.

"Who were those men all dressed in black at the village today?"

"Ah those people! They are a group of traveling ninja's who are here only to stay the night. Naraku destroyed their village and the few men that survived the attack fled far away. Then they recently heard of Naraku's defeat and are traveling back to their homes again."

"Ah. I'm happy for them!" Kagome said in her regular voice. 'Though that one guy gave me the creeps.' "Which reminds me..." She put her finger to her chin and rolled her eyes upwards in thought. "I wonder how Sango and Miroku are doing back at Sango's village."

"I'm sure their doin' fine Kagome." Inuyasha retorted. "Their both very strong, for humans." He added with a smirk. Kagome rolled her eyes at him.

"Have the gotten married yet?" Kaede asked thoughtfuly.

"Not yet, but it will be soon. Or at least I don't think they would have done it yet because they havn't invited us!" Kagome flung her arms upwards towards the ceiling and shrugged.

"Mmmm. What a delicious meal!" Shippou happily said out loud as he dropped his bowl to the ground and made himself comftorable in Kagome's lap.

"Shippou, before you go to sleep remember what I told you to do!" Kagome reminded him.

"Oh yah!" He hopped off of Kagome's lap and began digging through her yellow pack.

"What are you doin' squirt?" Inuyasha asked trying to mask his curiousity by sounding tough and authoritive.

He noticed Shippou grab a long white stick with red stripes going down the sides of it and fuzzy things on the end. His ears perked forwards.

"I'm brushing my teeth you idgit!" Shippou retorted. Inuyasha, who had instantly became angry at that, punched Shippou on top of the head.

Shippou plopped down to the ground and began to cry.

"Why are you picking on me! I'm just a kid! WAAAAH!"

"Inuyasha, why did you do that!" Kagome snapped angrily.

"He called me an idgit!"

"There are easier ways to deal with him rather than punching him on the head! Inuyasha your so rude!" Inuyasha laid his ears back against his head. Kagome had struck a nerve with him and hurt his feelings, but he wasn't gonna let anyone know. He reacted with anger.

"O-K Kagome! How would :you: deal with the brat if he called you an idiot!" He yelled with sarcasm. Kagome tightly closed her eyes with her eyebrows drawn down tight, trying to keep cool.

"Mmmm. Inuyasha, he's just a kid!"

"That doesn't mean he should go unpunished!" And all the while they argued Shippou cried.

"Would ye :please: calm down!" Kaede said desperately trying to raise her voice above the arguing couple's. Kagome winced at her comment, she had been so caught up in the moment that she had not realized her voice had been so loud.

"So sorry Kaede...Shippou you too!" She picked him up off the floor and hugged him to her. "Shhh. Shippou, it's ok. No one's mad at you."

"Really?" He asked tenderly with a sniffle and looked up at her with innocent green eyes. Kagome smiled at him.

"Yes!" She said, managing to pretend that she was happy at that moment. "Now, it's getting kinda late for you. It's time to go to sleep Shippou."

"Ok Kagome-sama!" He told her playfuly. Inuyasha watched from out of the corner of his eye as Kagome held Shippou in her arms and cuddled him until he had fallen asleep. He watched her set him down in her sleeping bag and wrap a blanket around the baby Kitsune, and Shippou's nose twitched when she began to walk away. Evidentaly Kagome noticed, and went back to him, then sat beside him and patted his head until he had for sure fallen asleep.

Inuyasha turned around fully and stared at her apologetically with his eyes.

She made eye contact all right but it wasn't friendly. She shot him an evil glare, which made his heart stop beating for a second, but somehow he managed to keep glaring at her too until she sat down next to Kaede, their backs to him.

He felt anger inside of him threatening to boil over and so he decided to take a walk, while not having his protective kimono top on.

Inuyasha rose up to his feet and silently walked out of the hut. Kagome turned curiously and watched him leave, and for an instant she felt like she was the bad person, then remembered what had happened and reminded herself she wasn't.

As Inuyasha took a step outside of Kaede's hut, he felt his foot on the soft cold earth. The temperature out here was cooler than it was inside with the fire going. He liked it better out here.

He listened to the sounds of the night-life, and for a moment was at peace with everything. Then came Kagome's face into his memory and he instantly felt anger again.

Inuyasha walked huffily down the dirt road, trying to calm himself down. He was plainly tired of Kagome being able to boss him around the way she did, and it was all because of the damn necklace he wore!

He loathed it. Why she wouldn't take it off of him, he didn't understand. He knew for sure that she wasn't afraid of him! She couldn't be!

'Kagome will get this damned thing offa me...But how do I get her to do it?'

He glanced down at the cursed rosery and rolled the beads around with his thumb and forefinger as he thought.

Sango and Miroku were out of the picture mostly now...the little group that he had formed with Kagome was now gone. It was just Himself,Kagome,and Shippou that were left.

He was sure that they would keep in touch with Miroku and Sango anyways.

What was there left for him to do now that all of his problems were solved...Kikyou was at wrest and Naraku was dead...which just then made him remember that Kurishuna lady.

He pondered for a moment if she was really dead...

But since all of his problems were solved accept for her, could he move on to the next level with Kagome?

In a sort he had been doing just that these past couple of days...and he had just about told her that he was going to stay with her forever.

Then, an idea suddenly popped into his head. How he could get the rosary beads off of himself! He smirked evily at his dirty little plan...

Then he heard men's voices, Inuyasha perked his ears forwards. That was extremely odd. Who in their right minds would be out this late in the village?

He curiously and silently followed the voices and kept in the shadows so that he could not be seen. He soon came upon the group of ninja's. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and kept close vigilance over them as he eavesdropped into their conversations.


	18. Katsuro

**Ch.18: Katsuro**

The men were all standing in a group together, the only light was the light shining down from the moon and the stars. Inuyasha couldn't see the men's faces because they were covered by black masks, as the wrest of their bodies were covered in black clothing. But they were ninja's. He eased up a little closer so that he could gather better little details about what they smelled like and such.

"I don't see why we're heading back to a place that no longer exists!" Someone yelled. It was a voice from a younger adult male, maybe nineteen, twenty.

"We're going back tomarrow morning, that's that." Another man spoke up, his voice deep and powerful. The first guy growled under his breath and clinched his fists.

"Why can't we just move to another area? Nothing is left for us there! Everyone has di-"

"Be quiet!" The second older man yelled. "We are going back to redue all which Naraku has undone. We will rebuild a newer, better place on top of our older one. Trust me, Katsuro, (Victorious Son) it will be much finer than the first."

Katsuro bowed his head down. Inuyasha noted that this guy was very angry with this. That was the position he himself would strike in battle when a demon insulted him highly, and he had to keep his cool.

Once the leader finished talking, he turned his back to the group.

"I'm off to sleep now, I suggest you do the same. We're leaving early tomarrow."

He walked into a nearby hut, and two of the others in the group followed. One man remained with Katsuro.

"I don't entirely agree with rebuilding on top of our old village, Katsuro, but I wouldn't upset our lord if I were you."

"He's :your: lord, my father." Katsuro retorted bitterly. Then the two of them began talking. Inuyasha sighed. Maybe they weren't as dangerous as he had thought. But still, his instincts were telling him deep down that they were, somehow. But he didn't see how, and so he ignored them having witnessed that they were only passing through this village and that they were no concern to him or Kagome.

"Katsuro?"

"Sh. I heard it too."

They stood quiet for a minute, listening. When no noises came, they relaxed.

"It's probably just a stupid dog or squirrel." The man who wasn't Katsuro said.

"Hrm.."

Inuyasha turned his back to them with a smirk evident on his face, he began to walk away from them. He wasn't quite ready to go home yet, either. He had walked to far away from the to hear them begin to talk again...

"Damn I hate being in human form. I can't hear or smell anything!" The second man complained.

"Stop griping...we'll only be like this until we leave here."

Inuyasha began jogging until he was out of the village, and into the forest. He hopped up into one of the highest branches of his "Goshinboku tree" so that he could relax.

Inuyasha laid down on the highest branch, with his head propped up against the trunk of the tree, and watched the stars, loving the fresh crisp air up where he was, and enjoying the nice view he got of the sky, and the treetops which stretched on for miles.

He could even see smoke rising from the village Kagome was staying in.

'Kagome...'

Inuyasha glanced up at the sparkling stars in the sky as he thought of her, his anger with her begining to slowly slip away.

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"Well Katsuro, i'm goin' to sleep."

"All right Nibori." Nibori turned to walk inside the hut and stopped at the door, once again turned to face Katsuro.

"Have you found any ladies you wanted to take back with us?"

"Hm...there was one lovely lady I saw earlier. She was wearing a short little green kimono...the shortest i'v ever seen...but she was with a-" His voice hardened. "white dog-demon."

"I remember seeing those two earlier!" Nibori replied with amazement.

"Yah, I made eye-contact with the girl and the dog." Katsuro replied with arrogance. "But what the hell, if you don't mind me asking, is a white dog doing here in this village?" Asked Katsuro.

"Maybe the same as us?"

"Doubt it...didn't all of them stick together and flee to the mountains?"

"Maybe they left one?"

"At any cost.." Katsuro began, his voice firm and overiding Nibori's. "I think he know's something's up with us. When he saw me, he had a look of knowing to him..."

"Are we gonna jump him?"

"Nah...not now anyways. I'm tired and stressed and I just..." He trailed off and sighed. "Need to relax." He put his hands on his back and popped it.

"Hey..." He put his finger to his chin. "Do you think that girl was traveling with him? They were standing offly close...and why arn't the people in this village afraid of him?" Nibori asked. Katsuro narrowed his eyes in frustation.

"Fuck! Hell if I know this shit, just go to sleep and quit asking me!" He ordered. Nibori glared back.

"Just wonderin'." He grumbled, turned his head and walked inside of the hut.

Katsuro decided to go explore the village on his own. He didn't need the wrest of his pack to do that simple task. He began walking down one of the dirt roads, taking notes on this human village.

How did they survive, these little humans, when they were so weak...how were they still not dead over the centuries of demon attacks...he did not understand. They had no special powers of their own, and they might as well not have any sences of their own too.

'What a weak race!' He thought.

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Kagome was safe and sound inside of Kaede's, laying on the wooden floor of the hut on her stomach while she studied her algebra book to pass the time as she waited for Inuyasha.

Her anger with him had cooled down now, and she was getting worried. It turned out that Kaede's magical little gift to Kagome was a small bracelet with light pink beads around it that supposedly protected innocent people from any kinds of dark and evil powers. Kagome's hand found it's way to the item and her fingers played with the little beads...

'Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at him the way I did...' Her thoughts strayed back to Inuyasha once again. 'Oh no! I'v got to concentrate on this...' She tapped her pencil agetatedly on her algebra book as she ran an impatient hand through her hair.

She let go of the pencil and watched it fall to the floor. Kagome then grabbed her head and fisted her hands in her hair in frustration.

'I'v missed so many of my math classes that I can't even figure this stuff out on my own anymore..!'

She looked around the hut and found Shippou curled up, sleeping innocently in her sleeping bag, and Kaede snoozing with a pink comfertor Kagome had brought back for her from her time.

"It looks like your gonna sleep out in the woods tonight, arn't you Inuyasha?" She whispered sadly to no one. 'Then I might as well go to sleep too..'

Kagome grabbed her toothpaste,a bottle of water, and her toothbrush and walked outside with them. When she first stepped outside she shivered. The weather was beginning to grow colder now that the end of fall was close by. She wanted to get done with this quickly so that she could go back inside the nice warmth of Kaede's hut.

She stood beside the hut and brushed her teeth.

When she was done, she took her water and got alittle in her mouth and swished it around. She spat it out on the ground and whiped her mouth off with her arm, then was done with that for the night.

She looked up at the sky and noticed all of the stars winking down at her. They gave her a moment of peace and comfort on the inside, and she wondered if Inuyasha was looking up at the same sky at that moment.

She heard some leaves crunch in the distance.

'Most likely not.' She thought as she was drawn suddenly out of her daydream by the odd sound. She looked behind her, but no one was there.

"Inuyasha?"

Her question was answered by the still cold air and the chirping crickets. Kagome took a step back. "Maybe it was just a cat or something..." 'Or Kurishuna!' Her body automatically froze in fear of what was coming.

"Hey!" Came a friendly guy's voice. She looked off into that direction and saw a guy about Miroku's age walking out of the shadows, smiling friendly. Kagome watched him warily.

'Who would be out at this time of night? He's dressed all in black, no wonder I couldn't see him. He's one of those ninja guys isn't he?' Then, as he came closer to her, she noticed his blue eyes and she remembered that he was the one she had made eye contact with earlier.

"Um...Can I help you with something?" She questioned uneasily as he stopped maybe a foot or more in front of her.

He thought about how he could get her away from here...he had decided that she was the one he was going to bring back with him. Whether by force or not, it was going to be up to her.

"Yah...I am only staying here with my family for one night, but then I went out for a drink of water from the well and now I can't seem to find my way back, since you seem to be the only person awake could you help me back?" Kagome stared at him, sizing him up.

"Aren't you a ninja?" She prodded.

"I'm a ninja in training." He lied again.

"I see, because I thought ninja's were very skilled and never got lost, but I guess it makes sence since your only in training." She smiled friendly up at him.

She put her finger to her chin. "Now, I suppose since your only visiting that your staying at our guest house...I'll lead you there."

He nodded.

As they were walking through the dark, Kagome began to feel uneasy because she could feel his eyes on the back of her the whole time. She just wanted to get him there and get back to Kaede's. Or bump into Inuyasha.

As if on que he asked out loud...

"I saw a demon-dog walking around in this village earlier, and I seem to recall that you were traveling with him?"

"Yes?" Kagome replied.

"Were you traveling with him?" Kagome didn't reply to his question as she thought about what to say. When she finally figured that he was probably just curious she answered him.

"Well sure, i'v known him for awhile now."

"Who is he then?" She glanced back at him.

"Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Well it is uncommon to see demons of any sort walking innocently around a human village."

"His name is Inuyasha, like I said, i'v known him for awhile now and so has this village. He's kinda like my--er- our protector."

Katsuro's heart stopped beating and his body froze as his mind repeated the name 'Inuyasha'.

'As in the great lord Inutaisho's son?' He thought.

"Hey, Are you ok?" She asked as she noticed she had left him standing way back there. Kagome walked back to him and put her hand comfortingly on his arm.

He glanced down at the hand that was touching him, and then up to her face. He was just barely able to shake off his shock.

"I'm fine. I'v just...heard of him."

"Oh yes, he's very well-known around here!" She told him laughingly. Now she felt some-what more secure with this guy because he knew that she was in league with Inuyasha. They began to walk down the dark dirt road once again in silence...Then Kagome saw the little guest building they had built for when new people came for an overnight visit.

"This is it." She told him.

Katsuro narrowed his eyes in concentration. Should he take her now, or should he take her at all? This was his perfect chance but, risking getting into a fight with the all to well known white dog Inuyasha was not a good thing at all...Wait...why would he care if he took a human girl from him? Then again...she had just said that Inuyasha was like this village's guardian.

Katsuro turned his eyes towards Kagome.

"Hey, thanks for showing me here. Can you make it back by yourself all right?"

"Oh sure, i'm not scared." Kagome bluffed. "Inuyasha is watching over me."

"Well, is he watching over you, or the village?"

"Uh..."

"I mean, do you two have a special relationship?"

"Well, we've been friends for awhile.."

"I mean, more than just friends?" He saw her begin to blush. He could tell she was unsure of what to say next. Maybe he could chance stealing her and bringing her back to his home with them. "Never mind that, sorry I asked." He began to walk inside and then turned around to her again. "Hey um, it's kinda cold out here. Are you sure you wouldn't want to come in and drink some tea with me?"

Kagome shifted her weight onto her other foot unsurely. She didn't want to turn down his offer and be rude, but she didn't want to follow him inside either.

She glanced up at the trees, and thought of Inuyasha. He wouldn't let anything happen to her, and she was inside of Kaede's safe village anyways, what would it hurt?

She followed him inside of the hut.

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'What am I gonna do with my life now that Naraku and Kikyou are gone...' His eyes glazed over slightly as he thought about Kikyou, and the fact that there were no more adventures left for him. 'I'm glad for her that her soul has been saved...maybe I can go around and kill a few more demons who have grudges on me?' He flexed his claws and swung his hand testingly through the air once, while smirking.

Feeling satisfied, he relaxed again.

'What about Kagome? Is it really time for us to move to the next level?' He shifted around on his branch, deeply in thought.

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Once she was inside of the guest hut, she looked around the room and noticed four other bodies asleep on the floor. She felt slightly uneasy being in here with all of these men...

"Their just my family." He whispered all friendly-like. "their all harmless." Though that was far far from the truth. Kagome smiled up at him, trying to hide her uneasiness.

"That's nice, where are you guys headed?" She whispered, trying not to wake anyone.

She thought she saw anger flash through his eyes, but she must have imagined it because now he was standing before her, his eyes all glazed over. "Sorry I asked." She apologized quickly.

"No, no. It's all fine. You know of that demon Naraku right?"

"Yes..." She watched him put a pot over the small fire and the water quickly began to boil.

"He destroyed our home of ninja's. He slaughtered everyone, and so us, the only survivors fled across the sea to China."

"Wow...i'm so sorry...And so now your going back?"

"Yes..." He moved the pot off of the hot fire and began adding ingredients to make tea, but little did Kagome know he added a powerful drug that would supposedly knock someone completely out within three minutes from just a little sip of it.

He handed Kagome a cup of the warm steaming tea, and added a sweat smile just to make sure she'd drink it without questions.

But Kagome held it in her hands and stared up at him.

"I have a friend that that same thing happened to. Her name is Sango, but now that Naraku is defeated she too has returned to her old home, and everything is fine for her now." Kagome reasured him.

"I'm glad." He forced himself to sound nice and swallowed down some of his hot tea. He tried not to grimace as he did it, he hated the stuff. Kagome watched him do it and she too took a sip of the warm steaming tea.

"So i'm sure it will be fi-" Her vision suddenly grew blurry, and the room started spinning. She tried to stand up but her legs grew instantly numb and she fell down to the floor. "Help...help me..." She breathed out, but she couldn't tell if she had even said it aloud or not. Her body suddenly felt extremely heavy to her as she felt her entire body go numb.

She was fighting with every ounce of her strength to stay awake, when it hit her...

'I'v been poisoned!' She looked up into those violet eyes, which were staring harshly down at her. How could she have been dumb enough to come into this strangers house? With every last bit of energy that she had...she screamed.

"INU-YASHAAAA!" and blacked out.

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Now Inuyasha sat with his hands behind his head supporting it, while his back was upright against the tree-trunk and his legs were dangling off either side of the tree branch as he straddled it as he formed his plan of how he would get Kagome to take off his rosary when he suddenly got this bad feeling straight down in the pit of his gut that something was really wrong.

He bolted straight up just then...he could have sworn that he heard Kagome call his name...he perked his ears forward, and didn't hear it again.

He tried to relax again but that really bad feeling was there. Inuyasha was positive that there was something wrong going on back in the village with Kagome. He quickly hopped from tree-top to tree-top until he was back at the village and he headed straight for Kaede's hut.


	19. Coldhearted Love

**Ch.19:**

Inuyasha skidded to a stop in front of the hut, some dirt flying up behind his heals. Without even glancing on the inside of it, he could tell from her stale scent that she was not here at the moment.

He fisted his hands in worry and narrowed his eyes seriously, as he concentrated. He found her most recent scent...and began to quickly follow it.

Along the way he realized that there was another person who's scent he could not identify...it wasn't even a familiar...But he also figured out that Kagome had come with whoever this guy was willingly. What in the hell was she thinking traveling with some random guy at night? His very gut was telling him that something was wrong.

After a little time, he had reached the little place where they kept traveling people at the village so they could wrest up. He got himself all ready to fight this fucker as he marched up to the door and...

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He watched her squirming all around the place, trying to stand, and trying to figure out what to do as he saw panick building up inside of her. He knew what true fear looked like when he saw it.

He watched her collapse onto the floor, and knew that she was to far gone to do anything at all to get away. He was enjoying this alittle to much, but he also felt a twinge of guilt as he watched her.

Had he really, truly, developed feelings for this girl? It was true that he had been enjoying her company earlier...His eyes slightly widened with realizitation, and then he built up a new barrier inside of himself to block out any good emotion towards the girl, because having emotions only got in the way all the time.

But he would make her his in time. He swore on that.

He stared at her waiting for her to pass out, because she was on the verge of it, when suddenly an ear-splitting scream filled the air.

That name...

"INU-YASHAAAA!" And he watched in horror as her body went completely limp onto the floor.

"What did you do!" He was almost panicked, but kept his cool. All of the others suddenly jumped up from their spots.

"What the hell is going on!" Asked the leader as he came close and face-to-face with Katsuro. "Inuyasha!" He bellowed in anger. "What an idiot! Do you know what you got yourself :and: us into?" He spat at him.

Katsuro held his gaze cooly.

"Inuyasha, as in the Inutaisho's son? The one that slew Naraku?" Spoke up one of the dogs with nervousness.

Another whispered. "Maybe he's not the same Inuyasha."

The eldest dog was quiet as he thought about what to do. That white dog that had passed by earlier:had: in fact been Inuyasha! He looked down at the girl on the ground, and suddenly had an idea.

"You." He glared at Katsuro. "Can, in fact, get us out of this by getting on Inuyasha's good side." Katsuro glared back.

"I :will: not do it!" He snapped angered.

"Do :not: talk to me like that. Ever again. Understood?" The eldest said darkly. Katsuro dropped his head down to the ground and tried to keep cool, as anger was threatening to overflow out of him.

"Yes, Father."

"Once Inuyasha get's here, tell him that since Kagome was cold and had helped you out, you decided to help her out by offering her warm tea since it was cold out. Act like your a very weak human, and you are very clumsy. And also act fond of the human girl...then get on Inuyasha's good side, if possible, and he'll take her away again."

Katsuro's eyes were dilated and held hate in them.

"I'll do it." He growled lowly.

"Now quickly..." The eldest grabbed some herbs and rubbed them all over Katsuro's hands to cover the smell of the poison. "Say you were trying to help her with those herbs. And do not fuck this up."

With that, the wrest of the men went out the back door. One though, turned around and threw a small round ball down onto the ground, and instantly it exploded as it hit, and filled the room with a watery haze, and then all of it dissipated quickly into the air seconds later.

'So...they are covering their scents.' Katsuro thought bitterly.

Hopefuly they had a better plan than just running away and leaving him here alone.

Katsuro pulled Kagome to a mat and covered her in a blanket just as the door fell and made a loud clanging sound as it hit the floor.

He pretended to be absolutely shocked at this, eyes widened.

"Demon!" He gasped.

Inuyasha did not have time for any of that.

"Move away from her." Inuyasha ordered authorively.

Katsuro stood up slowly, pretending to be fearful, and walked to the other wall opposite of Inuyasha.

"She- She's fallen ill suddenly and I was caring for her, y-you see. You won't, h-harm her will you?" He asked pleadingly.

"Who the fuck are you and what is Kagome doing here in the first place?" He demanded as he quickly got to her side and crouched down to look at her face...it was pale and sweaty.

'And why did she call out my name?' He glared up at that man...this just did not fit together at all. His eyes narrowed as he noticed that this man was in fact one of the ninja's he had seen earlier. He did :not: trust one word from this guy's mouth.

"I, had went out to the well to get some water, and when I returned to the village it was dark and I lost my way. I bumped into this girl and she said she'd help me back and when we got here, since it was cold outside, I--- I invited her inside to have some warm tea. I mean it was the least that I could do for her but then she suddenly collapsed onto the floor...I was trying to take care of her before you got here.."

Inuyasha set his jaw tight. His story sounded believable, but this man, or ninja, did not seem to be. And what would Kagome suddenly collapse from?

He glanced down at her face again, his eyes shimmered with worry.

"Arn't you a ninja?" He asked bitterly.

"Well, a-a ninja in training. Since my father too is one, but I like working with little animals and plants b-better than being a n-ninja and all.." He said fearfuly. "But if you don't mind, I co-could help her."

Inuyasha glared evily at this guy. He watched him swallow hard. "She needs to be helped, And I have the right things."

"No thanks. I have a friend out here who knows alot about medicine. She isn't to far away, i'll take Kagome to her."

"Kagome.." He repeated airily. Inuyasha ignored him and picked up the unconscious girl.

"Don't even think about leaving yet, because I have unfinished business with you. And even if you :try: to leave I will hunt you down and everything will be much, much worse." He growled lowly, his voice laced with venom.

"Sure...b-but i'm in kind of a hurry and-" Inuyasha ran out the door before he could finish his sentence. Katsuro watched him retreat, as he stood there against the wall he was filled with such hatred towards that demon, especially for strealing the girl he claimed to now own.

He made up his mind just then, that he :would: have her without a doubt, and he would kill that dog in order to have her. It did not matter if he was the lord's son, it didn't matter if he had slone Naraku either.

He would kill him, and take that girl.

Which made him think back again, why would this dog care so much for a human? Was he just protecting her as a part of this village, or did it go deeper?

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"Hang on Kagome..." He whispered to her as he looked down into her very pale face. He held her in one arm as he whiped the sweat from her forhead with his other sleeve.

"Kaede!" He barked as he ran in through her door. The old lady awoke with a jolt.

"My my Inuyasha, what is it?" She asked sleepily.

"Kagome----She, she's become really sick!" Kaede detected the urgency in his voice.

"What exactly is wrong with her?" She asked warily.

"From what I can tell, she just collapsed." He laid her gently onto her sleeping bag beside the sleeping Shippou.

Kaede only took one looked at her once, felt her warm sweaty forhead once, and eyes widened, she realized instantly what was wrong with her.

"Inuyasha, she didn't become sick. She has been poisoned!"

"What." He growled in such a low voice, that even Kaede being so close barely caught it. She glanced up at him. Inuyasha had suddenly stood up to full height, his fists were clenched. 'How dare anyone do this to Kagome..' How :could: anyone hurt Kagome like that?

He looked down at the unconscious girl, his eyes smoldering with rage. He would take care of this tonight. "Is she gonna be all right?"

"Perfectly. But Inuyasha, do you know who did this to her?"

"I have a clue." And he huffed out of the hut without glancing back in.

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I'm really sorry guyz, i'm not going to be updating as much for the wrest of this week because i'm having "finals" school and I really need to study n' crud so yah...i'm sorry if this chapter sucked but I was trying to do it quick so I could get back to studying and so yah...this is probably going to be the last chapter for the wrest of this week so be patient!

In the mean-time I still want reviews!

Thanks for ur patience with this!

And keep checkin back because I have many many cool little twists and plans and everythings for this story so yah. It will be pretty cool.


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